Gambling with your Life
by pline
Summary: The Sacred Stones war is over and Marisa now lives with the new King of Jehanna, Joshua. The two don't expect much from each other... Or so they thought. My first story; read to your pleasure and review to whatever you may.
1. Chapter 1

Hey all, when I wrote this I completely forgot that the Jehanna castle got destroyed in the game. So... Let's just assume the castle never got burned down just for this story sake, mmh-kay?

**Disclaimer: I don't own Fire Emblem! Although I wish I did.  
**

Anyways, enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 1**

It had been almost four weeks since the Sacred Stones war had ended and the new king of Jehanna, Joshua, was recalling back on the events that had taken place in the ferocious war. From the time he was recruited with Eirika's army to the long journey home with Gerik, Tethys and Marisa.

He wished he could relive the experience again. Not the fighting, but the excitement it brought him as a swordsman. And now the chances of reliving that feeling would be slim. As the new king of Jehanna, Joshua knew he had 'king-ly' duties to attend to which included rebuilding his homeland. He knew it would become of him ever since his mother, Queen Ismaire, had died in the war, but he felt it was his obligation to carry on his mother's rein. After all, he had abandoned her when he was younger.

The only thing that kept him from going insane from boredom was his partner Marisa. Joshua's gambling ways always got the best out of him, and he felt lucky that he had won that one duel with Marisa during the war. His prize was her. As a sparring partner that is, as well for gambling.

Since the war had ended, he hadn't seen much of the Crimson Flash. He had been too busy attending to villager's complaints, rebuilding towns and villages, and keeping order of the castle.

He was surprised to see her sitting down on the marble bench in the castle's garden. Ever since the two have arrived to the castle, it's been nothing but chaotic and he had not seen much of Marisa, except for the occasional glances they would exchange when they passed each other in the halls. He wanted to talk to her, but never had the time. He felt bad for not properly showing Marisa around.

"Marisa. Here you are."

Marisa turned her head and glanced towards the King.

"King Joshua." Marisa said in her usual emotionless tone then continued to stare in the direction she had before.

"Please, no formalities. Just Joshua's fine." Joshua sat down next to her. He still wasn't used the title 'King'. It irked him. And he was not properly King just yet. With everything that's going on, he had yet scheduled a date for the proper crowning ceremony.

"But everyone else calls you King." Marisa blandly said as she continued to stare straight ahead.

Joshua scoffed. "I told them not to, but they do anyway. They're some royal knights, huh?" Joshua grinned as he looked at Marisa. She still hadn't budged.

Marisa was interesting to Joshua. He rarely saw too many female swordfighters, and a beautiful one at that. What he didn't understand was how could someone so beautiful and exquisite not be gawked at amongst the lads? After a few chats, Joshua had learnt that she dedicated her life to her sword. She was so dedicated that she didn't care about being social or her appearance. She was quite the warrior. And he liked that. He believed that by bringing Marisa back to the castle, they both could train and learn something from one another. For her, it would for her to hone her sword skill, for that he saw they were equals of the sword. And for him, to better himself as a swordsman and test his chances at gambling.

"So what have you been up to these last few weeks? I haven't seen you in a while." Joshua leaned back against the marble bench.

"Exploring."

"Exploring?" Joshua gave her a quizzical look even though she wasn't looking at him.

"The castle. It's big. I've also kept look out a couple of nights."

"Oh Marisa, you don't have to do that."

"There isn't much for me to do."

Joshua cleared his throat. "I'm, uh, sorry that I kind of abandoned you."

Marisa turned to face him.

After a moment of silence, he continued. "You know, ever since we arrived here, I haven't been giving you much attention."

"It's okay. You're King, I understand that you're busy. And I've managed to waste time here."

He gave her a little but guilty smile. Even though she said it was okay, it wasn't to him. He felt like a bad host abandoning his guests. But he let the feelings go.

"Ah, and also," Joshua leaned forward, arms now on his knees to glance at Marisa.

"What's this I hear about you fighting the guards?" Joshua raised an eyebrow.

He saw that her face tensed up, her lips perched together as if she was hesitant to tell him.

"I… have to practice everyday. And you're so busy. …I didn't want to bother you." Marisa looked down as if she felt guilty.

Joshua smiled, it amused him that she would feel guilty or embarrassed around him.

"I'm not mad that you're dueling with my men, in fact you're actually helping them!"

Marisa looked back up at him.

"By beating them, they're now motivated to practice more and more until they beat you. I hear some of them are actually afraid of you." Joshua said lowering his voice. "But I am mad that you're not dueling with me like promised." He crossed his arms playfully.

"Oh. Well, when you have the time, I'll be waiting."

"How 'bout now?" Joshua stood up and unsheathed his sword, and pointed it at Marisa.

Marisa glanced at the sword pointing at her then at Joshua. Her face was hard to read, it always wore the same motionless expression. But it was nevertheless beautiful.

"Okay." Marisa stood and unsheathed her blade, taking a few steps back so the tip of their swords met.

"Your men were boring me anyways." Joshua swore he almost saw a grin appear on her face but the shadows of the trees and plants were illuminated from the sunset hid her face.

"Oh ho, insulting Jehanna's finest men are you? Well, on behalf of them, I will redeem their honor."

Joshua ran forward, sword at his side and swung it toward Marisa. Marisa raised her sword and blocked the attack. To her surprise though, she had forgotten how strong Joshua was, and the momentum of the block sent her tumbling back. Ready again, Marisa held her sword toward Joshua, with both hands. She believed that she needed the strength of both arms to withstand Joshua's strong force.

Joshua stroke first again, with the sword in his right hand he quickly threw slashes at Marisa. Diagonal, horizontally, vertically. Marisa was quick to dodge all of them, taking crucial steps backwards.

Untill…

She found herself backed up onto one of the garden's wall. She hadn't been aware of her surroundings until she was forced to block one of Joshua's deadly strikes. Although she was backed to the wall, the pressure of the block pushed herself harder against it.

In one swift move, Joshua flicked his wrist and sent Marisa's sword flying and land in the grass. To prevent her from running towards the sword, he pressed his left arm against the wall, just beside her head, and pinned Marisa against the wall with his body as he leaned towards her. Joshua slowly raised his sword just below her jaw.

Both breathing heavily, inches away from each other, they felt each other's hot breath upon their face.

Joshua had never been so close to someone as he was with Marisa. He looked into her big lavender eyes as it was staring at his eyes. He had never noticed how milky her skin looked. It was radiant. His eyes made its way down to her lips. Joshua thought how perfectly shaped they were. Arched like Cupid's bow and how soft it must be when kissed upon…

_What am I'm thinking?_

His eyes averted downwards and watched the rise and fall of his chest against hers as he gasped for air.

"You haven't lost your skills."

Joshua shot his eyes back up, to Marisa's eyes. He noticed that she shot her eyes quickly back up to meet his gaze.

_Had she been examining my lips like I was to hers?_

The thought intrigued him and curled the left side of his lips upwards. He couldn't help but to smirk.

"Well, I guess I'm just a natural. My sword skills never leave me." Joshua said proudly.

"Maybe. But if you want kill the enemy, aim for the throat." Marisa slowly moved her hands upwards to Joshua's sword and softly grasped his hand. She lowered the sword so that it was against the bare of her throat.

Joshua observed the movement of the sword as the sword laid gently against the milky complexion of her throat.

He realized that Marisa had already recuperated, while he was still panting hard. He felt that maybe he had lost a bit of his strength. He never had to breathe so hard in a battle.

"Oh." Joshua pushed himself off the wall and released the defeated swordswoman. She walked over to where her sword had landed, and bent over to pick it up.

"Heh, the honor of Jehanna's royal knights has been restored!" Joshua said jokingly.

"You won because I have been lowering myself the past week to level with them. I didn't even warm up." Joshua could tell Marisa was angry. From the way she quickly stressed her words to the part where she sheathed her sword quite nosily. The roughness of the sheath scratched slowly against the sword, it made a squealing sound that made Joshua scrunch his face up to the painful sound.

He looked back up to Marisa as she quickly turned around and headed towards the garden's entrance.

"Wait! I was just teasing." Joshua held up his right arm as if to grab her.

Marisa turned around to face Joshua with her left hand on her hip. A sign of annoyance.

He could tell that she was mad. Of course he knew better than to criticize Marisa on her swordsmanship, it was everything to her.

"Besides," Joshua walked up to her.

"If you hadn't backed into the wall and kept dodging all of my attacks, I would've tired myself silly." A slow and reassuring smile appeared on his face.

After some moment of silence, "heh. Alright." Marisa arm fell to her side as she turned around and began to walk.

"Oh yeah, I won so… I want something."

"But we didn't bet anything" Marisa once again turned around to face him.

"Oh Marisa. You should know by now," Joshua had his arms crossed and took 2 steps towards her.

"I'm a man of gambling. When it's not my coin that I'm gambling with, it's my sword."

"Okay. What do you want?"

It didn't take long for Joshua to figure out what he wanted, but for dramatic effect he place right hand on his chin and gently stroke it as he grinned at Marisa.

"I want to spar with you everyday. Same time, same place."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure." Joshua was taken aback from Marisa's reply. He was hoping she would be happy at this.

"It's just. You're king now and you have your country to look out for. I don't you want you to me before Jehanna."

_What an odd way to say it._

But he knew what she meant.

"Don't worry, everything has settled already, I just have to tend to a few documents, reparations, and money problems. But at the end the day, I'll be available."

"Okay. If you're sure about it."

"I am." Joshua nodded his head.

Marisa turned around again and headed out the entrance of the garden that led into the castle before she called out, "Good night Joshua."

"G'night Marisa!" He shouted back and she was gone.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I don't own Fire emblem.**

Enjoy!

**Chapter 2**

* * *

Marisa got up just as the sun rose. It was important to her to get an early start in the day so she didn't waste a moment's time.

Kicking her legs over the bed, she undressed herself out of her nightgown and slipped into her usual outfit; her sleeveless black one piece, with a thin veil hung around around her waist. She looked at herself in the full body length mirror and tied her long lavender hair up. With her sword at her side, she reached the bedroom doors and pulled it open.

She was greeted by one the castle's guard. "Good morning, Lady Marisa. Is everything to your liking?" he said.

"Yes. Thank you."

"Ah, okay, let me know if you need anything." And the guard resumed walking the hallway.

Marisa tugged at her shirt collar upwards and walked down the massive hallways of the castle.

_Another day to spend in the castle of Jehanna…_

Although Marisa found herself bored ever since she arrived, she never once regretted coming here with Joshua. As part of a bet that Marisa had lost, Joshua asked her to stay with him in the castle. She saw this opportunity as new journey for her, instead of fighting against the same ruthless mercenaries she did before, she could test her skills against forces strong enough to attack the castle. As well, she saw this as a chance to get away from… Them.

Seeing Gerik and Tethys together pained her more so than any other injuries she had endured. But nevertheless, they were still her friends, and she missed them.

The last 2 weeks were spent roaming the castle's halls. She found that it was 4 stories; the first floor contained the throne room, the main ball room, the kitchen, a dining room and the garden.

Second floor a secondary ball room, not as big as the main one though, a supplies room, and several guest rooms.

Third floor was her room, which was next to Joshua's room, a study/work room which Joshua had spent most of his time in, and a library.

On the fourth floor, there wasn't much, just another supplies room, and a couple or spare rooms.

Each floor had a spiral stairwell on each end of the halls that led to the bottom.

Unsure of where to go, Marisa headed to the garden. She spent most mornings in the garden as she watched the sun rise. She sat on the very same marble bench she had sat on last night with Joshua. She liked the garden, although it wasn't very big, she liked how calming and relaxing if felt when you sit there.

Although, one thing puzzled her; the stone walls protected the garden in all directions except for in the east. The gap exposed the desert and its uneven landscape. As the sun rose, it casted a warm glow of orange onto everything.

She didn't understand why it was build like this, anything in the desert could intrude in the garden and eventually into the castle.

"Marisa." Said a groggy, yet familiar voice.

She turned and saw the King of Jehanna yawning and stretching at the entrance, then dragged his way towards Marisa where he plumped himself next to her.

"You're up early." She said as she watched Joshua try to maintain his eyes open.

Joshua let out another yawn, he didn't bother to cover his mouth and tilted his head into his hands, using his large hat to cover the blinding sun.

"I thought I should get up early to finish most of my work." Joshua mumbled into his hands.

"I thought you said everything was settled?" She found it funny to see Jehanna's hope so tired.

"_Almost _everything." He replied.

After a few seconds, Marisa wasn't sure if Joshua had fallen asleep beside her but had asked a question anyway.

"Joshua." He didn't budge.

"Yes?" was what she thought she heard after a while.

"Why is the garden like this?"

"Like what?" He looked up and immediately knew what she meant.

"Oh. I asked my mother the very same question when I was younger. Well, what I don't think many know is that this garden grew on its own."

Marisa quickly turned her head to look at Joshua. She was surprised that such life could grow on these barren lands that Jehanna was.

"Yeap. It's true." Joshua replied to Marisa's stare as if he read her thoughts. He continued on, "It's been here before I was born, before my mother was born. She liked sunrises. And she loved plants and flowers. She wanted to make a place where she could enjoy the sunrise surrounded by the things she loved. And so, she tore down this wall."

"Trespassers could come into the castle."

"Yeah… She didn't care about that. she had some of the strongest men guarding the place. But we never once had intruders. So that's lucky."

"That's… Interesting." She had never heard of something so risky and bold, all to enjoy a moment of happiness.

Joshua turned his head in his palms to look at Marisa, "you like the sunrise?" He asked.

"It's beautiful to watch." She said. She heard Joshua chuckled and turned her gaze at him.

"What?"

"Nothing. …It's just, you somehow remind me of my mother." She saw a soft smile appear on his face.

She took it as a compliment after all, the late Queen Ishmaire was beautiful and graceful.

"Maybe you'll follow her footsteps and become Queen of Jehanna one day." Joshua got up left Marisa alone.

Marisa watched the King as he walked away and couldn't help but notice how slyly he had said that.

_But for me to be Queen… _

She felt her face get hot and quickly raised her hands to her cheeks. She glanced around to see if anyone was watching and used her fingers to quickly rub her cheeks.

_No... He's just kidding… _

Not very long, the sun rose slightly and its orange glow turned bright. Everyone should be up by now. Marisa sat for another minute contemplating what she should do next.

_I could visit the chief and Tethys. _

Marisa shuddered. She thought back on the conversation she and Tethys had during the Sacred Stones War.

_Tethys: After all's said and done, you truly like who and what you are, right?_

_We have completely different lives, but we have that in common. That and the_

_same man, right?_

_Marisa: What? What do you mean?_

_Tethys: You can't hide it from me. I guess I should ask, do you think you're_

_hiding it?_

_Marisa: I-I'm hiding nothing. Nothing at all!_

_Tethys: What an interesting reaction. Youth is so cute._

_Marisa: Wh-why are you smiling? Ah..._

_Tethys: Don't be so embarrassed. We're going to be around each other for a_

_long time. We should talk._

_Marisa: I've got to go!_

_Tethys: There's no need to run away. We may be rivals, but we're still friends._

_Marisa: I'm not running away! I'm just... leaving!_

She felt her heart churn when she saw Gerik and Tethys embrace each other on the battle field and when they held each others' hands on the journey home.

"_Don't worry, I won't tell him. And… You're okay right?" _Marisa was always victorious in her battles, but when it came to the battle of love, she lost. Although she wouldn't have considered it a battle; her, an aloof, quiet swords-woman against the sociable dancer with enchanting beauty.

It just wasn't fair.

She still treasured them both as friends, they were the only people she trusted.

"I'm going into town. If King Joshua is looking for me, tell him that."

"Yes Lady Marisa!" The guard nodded to her and off she went to travel into the desert.

The town was only a 30 minutes walk from the castle on a good day. If a sandstorm were too hit (which was frequent in the winter), it would take at least an hour, granted you didn't get lost.

Marisa had only walked for a while and had already began to feel the sweat start to form above her forehead and neck. She was used to Jehanna's blazing weather. Countless times were spent slashing her sword around in even intense weather than today's.

She got into town safely and saw the busy streets filled with shops, people looking for the best price at the market and children running around.

_To get there quicker I would have to take the alley. _

And so she did. Marisa avoided the busy streets as she turned left into a neighborhood. Children were running around playing the harmless game of 'tag' while mothers washed their clothes and talked amongst themselves.

As a child, Marisa didn't live in the town, but instead a small house not too far away. Rarely, her father would take her into town to buy food when they weren't training.

Marisa took a right into an alley and there she saw 2 elderly men playing chess and a crowd of older men watching. She noticed how much cooler it was in the alley as it was in the shade.

Finally she arrived at building, Gerik's mercenaries. The door was open, probably to let out the heat so she let herself in.

She saw Gerik sitting at a desk looking quite sternly at a piece of paper.

"Chief." She addressed and Gerik's head shot straight up.

"Marisa!" He exclaimed, and wide smile appeared on his face and as stood and walked over to her.

He gave her a tight hug and Marisa couldn't help but to blush a little bit. After the war had ended, Marisa resigned her position in Gerik's mercenaries so she could stay with Joshua in the castle, yet she couldn't stop calling Gerik 'chief'. She respected him too much.

"What brings you here? Already getting bored living at the castle?" Gerik let go of her, his smile still big on his rugged face.

"No. Just thought I'd come visit you and Tethys. Where is she?" Marisa looked around the small room, there wasn't much, just the desk Gerik had been sitting at and a worn out couch opposite of it.

"She's booked the whole day." Gerik groaned as he looked down.

"She usually dances at night though."

"Yeah, when you fight in the army that saved the world, word gets around quickly. I mean, even the mercenary is booked! Every last man off fighting off monsters or bandits."

_Ah, so that's why this place is empty. _Marisa was actually glad Tethys was gone, that would mean more alone time with Gerik. Even though he was spoken for, there's still that tiny grasp of hope that maybe... Just maybe she could win her heart in this unfair war.

"And you?" Asked Marisa.

"I'm actually heading out to do a job."

"By yourself? That's dangerous."

"Have you no faith in me, Marisa?" Gerik said jokingly holding his hand to his chest. "I mean, I _did _help save Margvel."

"Heh, sorry I underestimated ya. Let me come with."

"Are you sure? You resigned outta here, you don't have to come."

"I have nothing to do at the castle. You don't have to pay me. And I need something for my blade to cut."

"Yeap, you're still the same, Marisa." Gerik chuckled

* * *

The two set out on the job, only a short distance east of town. Gerik explained as they left the town that there were sightings of a few gorgons. Something she was familiar with. During the Sacred Stones War, the army faced a lot of monsters, gorgons especially. She hated them the most simply because of their ability to turn its opponent into stone.

"So, how's that King of Jehanna?" Gerik asked after a moment of silence.

"King Joshua is still Joshua," Marisa replied. Often in the castle, she would see Joshua making bets with the guards. He was still the notorious gambler she knew. Gerik and Joshua were good friends. During the war, Marisa would see them together when they weren't on the battlefield. What they talked about, she didn't know. But since the war has ended, both were too busy to visit each other. She was sure this was the case for everyone else that fought in the war.

"Haha! Well said! And I was worrying that all this King stuff was gonna make him obnoxious or something." Gerik placed his arm over his head.

Marisa turned to look at Gerik. She didn't know what it was about him that made her have feelings for him. Maybe it was his rugged tough look, or the way he ruthlessly swung his sword around during battles, or how kind he was to people around him. As hard as she tried to get rid of her feelings for him, he always did something that made her tingle inside.

"Maybe he needs to settle down, you know? Marry a woman who's smart, kind yet able to tame him, so he can finally act like a proper King. … Someone like you!" Gerik placed his right arm around Marisa, with his hand rested softly on top of her head.

"Wh- What?" Marisa didn't know what to say, she was caught completely off guard by Gerik's sudden outburst, but felt hot, not from the scorching sun, but from the blood flowing through her cheeks as she blushed.

"Yeah, you're tough and smart. I can see you two married, ruling over Jehanna. Oh, what a fierce team you guys would be," Gerik use his free arm to dramatically move it across the sky as if he were clearing the dew of the window.

He was painting her a picture as they say, and she didn't like it one bit.

"That will never happen." Marisa said calmly as she straightened herself out.

"I'm just teasin' with ya, Marisa." Gerik softly tousled Marisa hair, one of the many friendly gestures Gerik showed towards her.

"But if you guys ever got married, I'll kick his little royal ass if he ever upsets you."

Marisa glared up at him.

"Kidding! Heh heh." He let his arm fall off her shoulders.

"Chief. Aren't those the gorgons?" Marisa pointed to a big blur off to the distance. It was a few yards away, but she could distinguish that were 5 of them, and were huddled together.

"… It is. Come on, let's go." Gerik's tone became serious as he unsheathed his huge sword.

"Right behind you." She too, unsheathed her sword and followed behind Gerik as he quickly walked towards the huddled gorgons.

As they approached nearer, the gorgons took noticed of them. They turned towards their direction and hissed at them.

"I take right?" Marisa asked, getting into position. Back in her mercenary days, Marisa and Gerik always had a fighting position that worked best for them; Marisa took the enemies on the right side, Gerik took the enemies on the left side.

"Always." Gerik replied as he leaped towards the 2 gorgons on the left.

Taking this as a signal, Marisa ran towards the 2 that were to her right. Of the two, the one on the right hissed as if flailed its arms in the arm and leaned back. She knew it was about attack and quickly leaned to the left as a black ball went hurling pass her.

Marisa raised the sword over her head with both arms and cut the gorgon down in the middle. It fell to the ground and into the sands. The other gorgon, not too far away saw the demise of its friend and began to chant up a spell. As she ran, she saw a dark circle form underneath her. She quickly knew it was its spell to turn opponents to stone. She jumped in front of the gorgon just as it was finishing its spell and used both arms to slash horizontally at its torso.

The top half of the gorgon fell to the ground as it made a high pitched wailing.

"Phew…" Marisa looked over to see how Gerik was doing.

He was just finishing up with his second one as he cut off its head. Now it was time for the last one. She glanced over to the see the last one, only a few feet away from Gerik, but maybe 30m away from her.

She saw the same flailing as the last gorgon she killed and knew that it was summoning up its stone spell.

"Chief!" Marisa yelled as she ran towards Gerik, she cursed every time her feet sank deep into the sands. But it was too late. Gerik feel onto his left knee, with his sword stabbed into the sand to hold up his support.

To what felt like forever, Marisa finally reached him, kneeling before her fallen comrade.

"Chief! Chief! Are you alright?" She placed left arm around him. The muscles in his arm were tense.

"Damn… It. Don't worry-Argh-About me… G-Go killit…" Gerik could barely talk, his head was hung low as his sword was trembled in his hand. He was turning into stone.

In an instant, Marisa grabbed her sword, which she laid down next to Gerik and ran as fast as she could towards the gorgon, which was now slithering to retreat. She guessed it forgot she was there.

She was nearly gliding in the sands; she didn't want to sink into the sand to waste time. Nearly ¾ of the way, Marisa tripped over something. She hadn't been watching where she was stepping, but whatever tripped her was hard. She felt herself fall forward, and with her free arm, her right arm, she reached out to touch the ground and lift herself up. She did a messy front flip, but managed to land on her feet and found herself right behind the gorgon.

It turned around and hissed at her. Marisa raised her sword and cut it in half.

Marisa panted heavily as she watched the gorgon disintegrate into black ashes. She retraced her steps, searching for where she tripped. She saw the wide gap in the strides of her footprints but saw nothing. She would've dug little bit into the sand but remember Gerik was hit with that stone spell.

She ran quickly to Gerik, who was now nearly buried in the sands, and bend towards to him.

"Chief. Can you walk?"

_Of course not, stupid. _

Gerik couldn't reply, his eyes were shut.

"I'm going to carry you, okay?"

_Not like he can hear me… _She put one arm around him and hurled him up to his feet, then he fell over.

"Whoa!" Marisa used both arms and wrapped them around Gerik's waist. She knew she couldn't just drag him back to town, she had to carry him.

She crouched over as she plopped him onto her back and held onto his legs. He was a very big man, and she was a very small lady.

Her legs trembled underneath his weight but walked on. Every step she groaned but she was determined to get help. She could feel his body hardening against her body, and his faint heart beating slowly.

She could've stopped and taken a rest, but maybe it was the adrenaline that made her continue the brutal journey.

What would've taken 30 minutes, took a little over an hour.

When she finally reached town, she went into the nearest medic center. She nearly broke the door when she kicked it open.

"Please…" She was panting, tired from the trip. She gently placed Gerik into a chair.

"…Help him." The surprised bishop rushed over to him, with a restore staff. She wiped the sweat off her forehead. She was surprised she was sweating so much, she was drenched. The top of head was wet, and her shirt stuck on wetly against her skin.

She waited for what felt like eternity and the sun had just begun to set.

_I've waited the whole day… I wonder if he's all right._

She was waiting on the front steps of the building when the bishop stepped out.

"He's okay now, he just needs some rest." He had a gentle smile on his face, which assured that everything was okay.

"Okay. Thank you." She walked back inside and saw a shirtless Gerik resting on the bed.

He was back to normal, she watched as his chest raised and fell.

"Chief." She said. No answer. She thought about leaving him to rest and visiting him tomorrow.

And with that, she left, heading back to the castle.

She quickened her pace once she got inside the castle, she didn't want to keep Joshua waiting for their little spar. She reached the garden's entrance and saw Joshua practicing with his sword, his back facing her.

"Sorry I kept you waiting." Marisa said as she took out her sword and walked over.

"Oh!" Joshua nearly jumped and quickly turned around. "There you are. I was beginning to think my little joke earlier scared you off." He was grinning.

_So it was a joke. _

"Er, no. I was with Gerik."

"Oh, I see… He's doing fine, I hope?" Joshua asked as he swung his sword twice to his side. "Well let's get started shall we?" He got into position without waiting for an answer from Marisa.

She sighed as she took her sword out.

It was Marisa who launched the first attack, running towards him with her sword in her left hand. She swung it to Joshua and he was quick to dodge it. And then he raised his sword to her. She dodged it as well.

This went on for some time, even some guards showed up to watch the spar. Nighttime almost came when the orange of the sunset turned dark blue. Four torches were lit up at the corners of the garden. Its warm glow reflected off the blades of the two spar partners.

Finally, Marisa saw an opening as Joshua had held his sword to his side for a brief moment. She swooped in and held the tip of her blade to his throat.

The two were exhausted from the long fight and were breathing heavily against each faces'.

"Well done." Joshua said, smirking.

Marisa didn't say anything and turned around, putting her sword back into its sheath.

"That was a good battle, did you practice or something?"

She recalled back to the day's earlier events, when she and Gerik had faced the 5 gorgons.

"A bit. Gerik and I- Oof!" Marissa had turned around to face Joshua, and in the process of doing so, she tripped over one of the stone tiles.

Joshua, seeing Marisa falling over, let go of his sword and caught her. Joshua had prepared himself too late, and was taken aback to the weight of the fall and found himself falling backwards.

Marisa landed safely on top of his chest while he moaned in pain.

_Again? _Marisa was rarely clumsy. Clumsiness was a sign of weakness for her and having to fall over her own feet twice in a day frustrated her.

Then, she remembered back to when she tripped in the sand. She also noticed how defensive the gorgons looked, as if they were protecting something...

"Joshua." Marissa pulled herself up against Joshua so she was at eye level with him.

"Um? Yeah?"

"Gorgons. They lay eggs don't they?"

"Yeah, they do. ..Why?"

"Earlier, me and Gerik fought off some gorgons. I think they laid some eggs in the sand."

"Oh… You know they hatch within 24 hours once they're laid right? And those things are nasty once they're hatched…"

"Yes. I have to go and destroy them."

"Nuh uh, I'm not letting you go by yourself, especially with the night out. I'm coming too."

"But you're King. You have to stay protected."

"Marisa, you're making me sound like some kind of wimp. Of course I'm going to bring along some of the guards. Now do you know the way?"

Marisa didn't want Joshua to go, what if something happened to him like what happened to Gerik earlier? She couldn't help but feel responsible for Gerik's unfortunate demise.

But Joshua was stubborn and she knew that.

After a moment of hesitation, "yes. I'll lead the way."

"Good. …Now would you like to get off of me?"

Marissa looked around, she was too caught up with her thoughts that she hadn't noticed that she was on top of him.

She got up, blushing. She walked over to pick up her sword, hiding her face from Joshua.

"Brandon! Summon of 15 men, and bring torches. As well as 5 wyven riders to scout the towns area."

She turned around to face him.

"Now, would you like to lead the way?" his hand was stretched out towards her. She nodded.

* * *

It was dangerous to travel in the desert at night. And with probably dozens of ready to hatch baby gorgons out there, it just made the desert more dangerous. Marisa knew that. And she was pretty sure Joshua did too.

"Two kilometers east of town. We should be close." Marissa said.

"Alright men! Be cautious. If you see anything that looks like a gorgon or an egg, kill it."

"Yes, King Joshua!" the 15 men shouted together.

Marisa saw how Joshua flinched when they said 'King Joshua'.

_I guess he's not used to being called 'King' just yet. _

Marisa heard a soft hissing sound in the darkness. She raised her left arm to shush the group.

It was quiet except for the crackling of the torches held by the guards. The fire light could only carry out so far, it's orange glow casted 5 feet around the group.

Then, out of the corner of her eye, a snake like figure flew out at her from her right. She quickly unsheathed her sword and in one fluid motion, sliced the baby gorgon in half.

It fell to the ground. Twitching, before he turned into ashes.

She could hear the group getting their weapons ready.

Now there were hisses heard everywhere. They were out there, in the darkness waiting for them.

"Well isn't this just a pain in the butt?" She heard Joshua mumble to himself. With the torch in his left hand, and his sword in the other, Joshua ran out in the darkness.

_What is he doing?_

Then all of the guards mimicked the King's action.

_Stupid. Just stupid._

Without any options left, she did the same. Torch in her right hand, and her blade in the other.

At least 5 baby gorgons leaped at her, she quickly dodged all of them, slicing and dicing them afterwards.

She saw something shiny glimmering the fire's warm glow. It was an egg. She quickly rushed over to it and stabbed her sword into it. She heard a low grunting noise behind her and knew another gorgon was about to attack to her. She turned around, with her sword ready but found another sword in front of her, with yellow gooey liquid on it.

"Got your back." Joshua said. She looked to the right, where he was standing. He winked at her, his crimson eye shimmering against the fire's light.

"Oh, and sorry about that." She didn't know what he was talking about it, but then she felt something wet matted against her forehead. She reached up to touch it. The baby gorgon Joshua had killed exploded its blood onto her face.

Before she could say something to him, he had already resumed fighting the gorgons that were jumping towards them.

She bent down to the sand to dig up for any more eggs. She found 13, and destroyed them all, watching as they popped then turn into grey ashes.

The battle died down, and the hissing had stopped.

Marisa looked around and saw that everyone had stopped fighting, but were looking around to search any more remaining monsters.

"Scout the area, make sure none are left!" Joshua ordered.

After looking around and not finding anymore eggs or gorgons, the troop headed back to the castle.

Marisa entered her room, which was already lit with candles everywhere by the maids.

She walked towards the body length mirror and saw she was covered in the yellow goo. She undressed herself and headed towards the bathroom within her room. The huge bucket was already filled with water and was deciding whether she should wash herself first or her clothes.

There was a knock on her door.

_Who could that be?_

She slipped on her nightgown, not wanting to put on the sticky, dirty clothes and opened the door.

"Marisa, I- Oh…" Joshua looked surprised, she stared as his eyes as it made its way downwards. She figured he was staring as her breasts. She guessed it wasn't his fault. She _was _wearing her overexposing nightgown.

"What do you want?" Marisa said as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Um," Joshua looked back up to make eye contact. "I just wanted to say what a good job you did tonight. Thanks to you, the townspeople are safe."

"You're welcome." Marisa felt uncomfortable standing in her skimpy nightgown in front of Joshua.

"Is that it?"

"No. You won today's match. What would you like your prize to be?"

Marisa had completely forgotten about their spar. She didn't have anything in particular in mind. She stared off to side to think of something.

"If you don't have anything, I have an offer that you might like."

She looked up at Joshua, she wondered what this offer was.

"The men that came out with us tonight were impressed with your sword skills and they would like it if you could teach and train them."

Marisa stiffened up. She liked the idea of bettering the knights of Jehanna, but she didn't like interacting with people.

"What… Would I have to do?"

"Well, we can work with whatever schedule you want. You'll just help them perfect their skills and whatnot."

"Um…"

"You don't have to take it if you don't want. It's up to you!"

Marisa felt pressured; she didn't want to keep Joshua waiting for an answer.

"Okay."

"W- Really?" He sounded surprised. Maybe too surprised.

"Yeah, let's start tomorrow. At noon."

"Okay! In the ball room?" Joshua said excitedly.

"Sure."

"Don't worry, I'll be there to, you know, to observe."

Marisa didn't say anything and closed the door.

"G'night Marisa!" Joshua called as she closed the door.

_What did I get myself into?_

* * *

**A/N:**Eh, Rather than having people turn to actual stone, I made Gerik paralyze, which is kinda like turning into stone? Iunno, but I couldn't have Marisa carry a Gerik stone on her back! Ohh, the torture. Also, monsters turning into grey ashes after they die? *shrugs* Why not?

Hope you've enjoyed this!


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I don't own Fire Emblem.**

Enjoy!

**Chapter 3**

* * *

Most of the guards were waiting in the ball room for Marisa to come. Many were conversing.

Joshua stood at the back of the room and overheard a conversation between 3 guards.

"This should be interesting, Lady Marisa is an excellent sword fighter."

"Yeah! I'm anxious to learn from her."

"I just wanna see her move in that small outfit of her's. She is _hot."_ The other two guards then agreed.

Joshua chuckled to himself. He wondered if all the men she faced ever underestimated her because of her beauty. It was a stereotype to say beautiful women can't fight, simply because they were too into their looks. Joshua never fell for this stereotype. His mother was a graceful swordfighter. When he was a child, he would watch her swing her blade everyday. It was beautiful. And because of his mother, she taught him how to wield the blade. Because of her, he learned the women could be just as good at the sword than men could be.

Joshua was amused with the conversation from the three guards, that he didn't see Marisa stroll by him.

She made her way to the front where all the conversations died down.

There was a moment of silence.

"Hi. I'm Marisa."

…

Joshua couldn't help but feel embarrassed for her. He knew how awkwardly social she was.

During the Sacred Stones War, he'd always notice Marisa by herself, training alone with her sword. Come to think of it, he believed that he, Gerik, Tethys and Ewan were the only people she conversed with.

He was about to step in, to save her the trouble, but she resumed with her speech.

"Before I teach you anything, I want to see where you guys stand." She lifted her sword to the nearest person.

"You. Fight me." It was the guard that called her 'hot'.

_Now this ought to be interesting._

The guard chuckled, as he drew his sword out. "I can't promise to go easy on you, honey." There were a few snickering from other guards.

"Good. I don't want you to." The guard seemed to be taken aback, as he was silent. He got into position and was about to strike when Marisa walked up to him.

"Your position is all wrong. You could be knocked down easily." She placed a hand on his back and the other on his chest. She straightened him up before she kicked behind his right knee so he was crouched a little bit.

Joshua noticed a lot of the guards cooing at her action.

_I'm starting to regret offering her this…_

Joshua was afraid that the men wouldn't take her seriously, but after she went from man to man and noted all their flaws, he saw that they were becoming more serious.

Too ruthless, too slow, too slouchy, too risky… Marisa was good at this. And time wore on, the men grew to respect her and for some, afraid of her.

"King Joshua, you have guests." Said a guard who approached behind him.

"Oh? Well, bring 'em in." he wondered who it could be. Moment later he caught sight of two familiar figures.

"Gerik! Tethys!" He exclaimed as the two entered the room.

"Josh- Er, King Joshua." Gerik said as he bowed.

"Ahh, none of that. Please." Joshua said disgustedly.

"Haha! How are you doing my friend?" Gerik roughly patted his back. Gerik was a big guy. Whenever they sparred, he was always afraid Gerik would cut him down with his immense strength.

"Good, but I'm bored time to time. You guys should come visit often."

"We intend to." Said Tethys. He looked at her, she was still beautiful as ever as her outfit exposed her curvy exterior. She was a dancer after all.

"Ah, Tethys, you're still looking dazzling. Oh what's this you have?" In her arms was a basket of what appeared to be apples.

"Apples, picked from the finest market in town." She handed him the basket.

"Ohh! I love these apples. Thanks. …Is that all you guys came to do here?"

"I have some money for Marisa." Said Gerik as he jingled a sack of coins.

Joshua wondered what the money was for, and as if Gerik had read his mind, he answered before he could ask.

"It's for helping me out with a job yesterday."

"I thought she wasn't with your mercenary group anymore?"

"She isn't, but she merely saved me from death yesterday."

_Saving Gerik from death and the town from a bunch of gorgons? Wow._

"Oh! Gerik, you left the job unfinished yesterday." Joshua said smirking.

"What? What do you mean?"

"After Marisa came back from your little job, she realized that those gorgons laid eggs."

"What? Really? Did you go back to kill them?"

"Naturally. We nearly got killed by those blasted little babies." Joshua remembered back on last night's events. Dodging bites after bites from the jumping gorgons. Some of his men were unfortunate though, some received only mild bites, where others were critical.

His memories jogged along to where he met Marisa at her bedroom. He remembered her standing at the door in her white nightgown. The gown hung loosely by two skinny straps on her shoulders, revealing a bit of her cleavage. The gown outlined her slim figures; her hips, her legs and her breasts. One thing that really took his attention was the scar over her left breast. It looked like it was made from a sword. He wondered who could have done that to her.

"Oh, I'm sorry I left the job unfinished, I was turned into stone! But lucky for you, you had Marisa. She's sharp on these kinds of things. Where is she by the way?" Gerik asked. Joshua nodded his head to her direction, where she was helping another guard with his form.

"By the lights of heavens, is she interacting with other people?" Tethys said.

"Well, well. It looks like she is." The two were astonished by the sight. They couldn't help it, they were used to seeing her off on her own.

"Mind if I go talk to her real quick?" Gerik asked.

"Be my guest." He gestured his arm towards her. He watched as Marisa noticed Gerik walking up to her. He saw her eyes widen slightly and then her face turn slightly pink.

Joshua had the sense that she liked Gerik. On their journey home, Marisa's face would tighten and look stiff every time Gerik and Tethys showed affection to each other.

"You know, everyone in town is impressed with your work as King." Tethys said. He broke his stare off of Marisa and towards Tethys.

_How lucky Gerik was. Having two beautiful women in love him. _

"Really?"

"Yeah! But some of the elderly are a bit skeptical of you being King. They say you're way too young."

Joshua scoffed. He had been buried with paper works for the last 2 weeks trying to repair the broken town.

"But you are doing a great job. Really." Tethys gave his a warm smile, and gave a smile back.

"Thanks." He returned a smile back,

"Oh, before I forget." She pulled an envelope from her pouch. "An invitation to L'Arachel and Ephraim's wedding."

She handed the envelope to him.

"They're getting married?" He nearly shouted. He was surprised. The calm, laid back prince, marrying the self-absorbent, righteous talking princess.

"Uh huh, we were just as surprised as you were. Everyone is going to be there. Kind of like a reunion."

Joshua liked the idea of a reunion. He wanted to see how everyone was doing now that the war had ended.

"This Saturday, huh? Yeah, we'll be able to go." Joshua said as he scanned the decorated paper for the date.

"We? As in you and Marisa?"

"Yeah, you said everyone was invited right?"

"Yeah, but she's… Not the party person."

"Oh? What do you mean?"

"One time, Gerik invited her to a small party with the mercenary group to celebrate a victory. She refused and went off by herself. And there are more stories like that too."

Joshua should have guessed. Of course being anti-social as she was, she wouldn't want to go to a wedding. But he remembered their deal. The winner of their daily spar gets to choose what they wanted. If he won today's spar, he could get her to go.

Gerik walked over and noticed the paper in his hands.

"You're going right?" he asked, breaking off his train of thoughts.

"Of course, I take it that you two will accompany us?"

"No can do, we're off to a job just a little bit out of Jehanna. And do you mean 'us' as in you and Marisa?" Joshua rolled his eyes slightly. He didn't want to hear another story about Marisa not wanting to go to a party.

"I'll get her to go, don't worry about it!"

"Really? If you can, that'll be a miracle. Then again, having her teach your guards is another miracle." Gerik grinned. " 'Cause it's no party without Marisa."

"I'll have her there. Mark my word for it." Joshua said smirking. He liked a challenge, and if Gerik and Tethys thought this was a challenge, well he was going to have fun with it.

"Good. Well, we gotta get going, we'll see you two at the wedding?"

"Yeap." And with that, the two left.

* * *

Marisa took the whole day training the knights of Jehanna. Come sunset, Joshua waited in the garden while she finished up.

He read the invitation again.

_Dear King Joshua and Lady Marisa,_

_You are cordially invited to the wedding of Prince Ephraim of Renias and Princess L'Arachel of Rausten._

_Saturday, Noon – Evening. _

_Please dress formally. _

_Formally? As in a dress? _He tried to imagine Marisa wearing a dress, and then thought back on her wearing her nightgown, which was the closest thing to a dress.

_What a sight that'd be. _

"Joshua." He turned around and saw Marisa standing, with her sword out already. He also saw a group of men crowded at the entrance. He didn't mind, he figured that the students want to see their teacher in action.

"Ready?" He took out his sword.

She simply nodded and lurched forward and swung her sword at him.

She moved so quickly, all he had time to do was hold him sword up to block hers.

She was surprisingly stronger. He stumbled backwards, and then regained his balance. Marisa came at him again, slashing her sword. She was fast, and all Joshua could do was block her attacks. After stumbling backwards too far, he found himself backed against the wall, the same mistake Marisa made their first sparring.

_What to do, what to do?_

Joshua remained calm, as Marisa launched another attack on him, smirking as she did. She knew this was the end for him.

She swung her sword forward, and all Joshua blocked it. The swords were trembling in each other's hand as some of guards cheered for Marisa, some for Joshua.

The sword bent slightly towards Marisa and Joshua smirked. He was slightly stronger than her and used all his might to push back on her sword. But Marisa was consistent. Worried that he'll use up all his strength, Joshua decided to use a cheap shot. He saw that her knees were bent, with an unstable balance, she could be easily be knocked over.

He swung his left leg underneath her legs, and tripped her.

"Whooaa-ho!" She shouted as she fell backwards. To Joshua's surprise, as Marisa fell, she grabbed hold of a strand of Joshua's long crimson hair and he came tumbling down onto her.

"Owwwwww." Moaned Joshua as he rubbed the part on his head where Marisa had pulled. "You pulled my hair!"

"And you tripped me." She glared at him.

"Uh…" He felt embarrassed that he had to resort to a cheap shot to win their spar.

"Ain't it funny how one of us always ends up on top of the other?" Grinned Joshua as he tried to change the subject, although the subject of his choice may have not been to wise.

He heard her grumble something then push him off of her.

"Hey, it was a tie!" Joshua said as she got up.

"That was no tie. That was you being cheap." He could sense her bitterness.

"Well, hey. Why don't we flip a coin? We need a winner and I got something on my mind that I want." He looked at the guards that were crowded by the entrance. He could see that some of them were amused, others confused.

"Fine." She said sharply as she put her sword into her sheath. It made that awful screeching sound it made the night before.

Excited, Joshua took out his lucky coin.

"But I flip it. I know your cheating ways." She grabbed the silver coin out of his hand.

Joshua was reluctant at this, but he did trip her, so she should have that.

"Your call." He said as she folded his arms.

_Please lady luck, let me win!_

He felt his fingers were starting cross.

"Heads. No, tails. …Heads." Marisa looked as though she was thinking hard, and then threw the coin into the air.

He expected her to catch the coin, but instead she let it fall to the groun.

They both crouched down to see the result of the coin.

It twirled and spun against the cement, making a small 'clanging' sound as it did.

They both watched in suspense then finally...

"Tails!" Joshua nearly screamed as he jumped up.

Marisa sighed angrily as she got up. "What do you want? Whatever it is, you must've wanted it pretty badly." She muttered.

"Yeah, in fact I do." Joshua was now grinning, he felt victorious. "I want you to accompany me to Prince Ephraim and Princess L'Arachel's wedding this Saturday."

He was waiting for her reaction, but her emotionless face remained still.

"No." She said simply.

"What? But, our deal… Who ever won, they get whatever they want. And I want you to go."

"Why should I waste my time at something I won't enjoy?"

Joshua raised an eyebrow. "I promise you I'll make this fun for you. And besides, everyone that fought alongside with us in the war will be there. Don't you want to see them?"

"No."

Never, had he thought Marisa would be this stubborn.

_Maybe if I played the King card…_

"Marisa, as your King," He said as he walked slowly towards her. "As your King, I _demand _you to go." He bit his lip to prevent him from grinning.

_Wow, that was lame of me._

Before Joshua arrived back to the castle, he promised to himself that he would never force anyone to do his bidding as King. But this would be the only time he broke that promise.

Marisa glared at him. He felt that her pretty lavender eyes were staring into his soul.

"Whatever." She finally said.

Joshua smiled triumphantly. "I promise you we'll have fun okay?"

"Sure." Then she forced her way through the crowds of men and disappeared into the castle.

_She's mad… But I'll make sure we have a great time. _


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I Don't own Fire Emblem.**

Enjoy!**  
**

**Chapter 4**

* * *

_(Friday afternoon:)_

Joshua strolled along the halls of the castle when he saw a familiar figure.

"King Joshua." The figure addressed

"Cormag? Cormag of Grado?" Joshua grinned. He was happy to see the blonde wyvern rider.

"At your service, your highness." He said as he bowed slightly.

"Cormag! What are you doing here? And please, just call me Joshua." Joshua reached his hand out to shake Cormag's hand.

"Okay King-er, Joshua. It looks like I'm working for you now."

Joshua was confused. He didn't remember recruiting any men from Grado. Then Cormag took out a folded piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to Joshua.

It was a recruit contract for Jehanna's services, and at the bottom was Cormag's signature.

"Oh… I must've sent papers there by mistake." He knew of Grado's state. Without a King, it must have been chaotic there. The country needed all the help it could get.

Cormag chuckled. "That's not very 'King-ly' of you, Joshua."

Joshua rolled his eyes and let out a soft laughter. "So how is that place now?"

"It's stable. General Dussel, Knoll and I were working hard at rebuilding villages, the castle, and recruiting the Grado army… It's been pretty hectic these last few weeks." Cormag brushed his hand through his hair. Joshua felt his troublesome. He could only imagine what Grado was like now that the war had ended.

"Have you guys decided who's going to take on the role of King?"

"No. Majority of the people wants General Dussel to take the throne, but he refuses."

"You know, I could just rip up that contract, and you can go back."

"No, no it's okay. It's better for me to be away. Oh, Lady Marisa." Joshua turned around to see Marisa walking towards them.

"Cormag?" Joshua was surprised that she knew him. Even though they fought in the same army, he believed Marisa ignored everyone.

"Did you know Princess Tana was looking for you?" She said. Again, Joshua was surprised that she knew another comrade. Maybe she did interact with the army more than he had thought.

"Wait, what do you mean she's looking for him?" Joshua was confused.

"After the war, you disappeared. Princess Tana wanted you to work under Frelia."

_Oh? _Joshua was intrigued. He thought he knew all the gossips and the rumors that went on within the army during the war, but this, he did not know about.

Cormag sighed, and Joshua turned around to face him. "So it's true, huh? She kept her word."

"Are you running from her?" Joshua asked.

"Not really…" Joshua knew he was hiding something and gave him a stern look. Cormag saw the look on his face and spilled everything out.

"Ever since the war, I felt like a traitor to my country. Even though the war has ended, I don't feel like I belong there. During the war, Tana and I talked a lot and well… I guess you can say I really care about her. And Tana offered me a position under Frelia's army. I would've taken it if it weren't for this stupid guilt feeling. What if I betrayed her and Frelia? I don't think I could live with that. No… I'm not ready to face her. And when that contract arrived in Grado, I immediately took it, so I can hide out here for a while. Surely you can understand?"

_Ahh, he's caught in between love and guilt. _

"Sure I do! You take all the time you need." Joshua said.

"No, you have to go see Tana." Joshua turned around, surprised at Marisa's disagreement. She walked forward, now standing beside Joshua.

"If you really did care for her, you would go see her." Marisa continued.

"How do you know what she wants?" Cormag asked as he crossed his arms.

"She's my friend."

_Did I just hear correctly? Marisa has friends?_

Joshua could feel the tension between the two in the hallway as the silence grew.

"Uh, well if you want, tomorrow is the wedding of Prince Ephraim and L'Arachel. I'm sure Tana will be there. Maybe you can see her there?"

Cormag took his stare off of Marisa and looked at Joshua. "I'll think about it. But in the meantime, is there anything you'd like me to do at the moment? I'm not just here to hide, I promise you my full service."

"Oh. Well, there's not much to do, but hey, why don't I give you a tour of the castle and show you where you will be staying?"

* * *

The whole afternoon was spent with Cormag, as Joshua showed him the vast castle and the room where he would be staying at, which was on the second floor.

Joshua hadn't realize how long the tour had taken, and it was already dark out.

"Ahh… I still have to announce to the guards what's happening tomorrow… And I still don't have a mode of transportation to get there!" Joshua scratched the side of his head.

"I could escort you and Marisa if you like."

"Really? You don't mind? Oh, does that mean you'll see Tana?"

"Er, no. I'll take you guys there and back. I won't hang around too long."

"Hm, okay then. Thanks Cormag."

"We'll have to leave… at 9 sharp if you have to arrive there by noon."

"Yeah… Man, do I miss the days where I could sleep the whole day." Joshua sighed.

"Well, good night Cormag, see ya at 9."

_Oh crap, I forgot about Marisa._

Joshua quickly walked towards the garden. He had hoped to see her still waiting for him, but there was nobody but the two guards at the entrance.

"Was Marisa here?" Joshua asked the guards.

"Yes, King Joshua. She stayed briefly then left, your majesty."

"Oh dear." Joshua mumbled to himself. She had seemed angry at Cormag earlier, and now that he stood her up at their spar, she must be fuming.

"Oh by the way, tomorrow, me and Marisa will be attending the wedding of Prince Ephraim and Princess L'Arachel the whole day. Spread word to the other guards that they can take it easy."

"Um, are you sure, King Joshua?"

"Well, don't take it _too _easy. As long as the castle isn't burnt down when I arrive back, you should be fine."

"Yes, your majesty!"

_Phew._ _That's_ _one problem outta the way, now I have to see Marisa._

Joshua knew he handled the guard situation messily. If he had remembered to, he would've held a meeting in the ballroom and announce to the guards of his absence.

As he ran up the spiral stairs, he remembered the invitation had said to dress formally. Aside from his usual black outfit that he always wore, he remembered he had a tuxedo hanging somewhere.

_I guess I could wear that…_

He remember wearing one as a child, and he never liked it. It was tight and itchy.

But what was Marisa going to wear?

By the time he got to Marisa's room, he was tired from climbing the stairs. He knocked on her door, and seconds later, a night gowned Marisa showed up to the door.

"Erm." Joshua should have expected to her already dressed for bed, but was in her usual fighting attaire.

"What do you want?" She asked sharply.

"So sorry I didn't show up in the garden today, that tour with Cormag took longer than I thought."

"Okay." She began to close the door.

"Wait! For tomorrow, what are you going to wear?"

"I'm going to wear this." She said as she held the door in place.

"But the invitation said formal dressing, like a dress?"

"I don't wear dresses." And she began to close her door once more.

Joshua held the door opened with his hand as he leaned in.

"Come on, what do you mean, you don't wear dresses? Most girls do!"

"I'm not like most girls."

The two were now staring into each other's eyes. Joshua felt frustrated and let out a sigh.

"I already got you to come to the wedding, and I promised you that we'll have a good time, why don't-"

"What will you do? _Demand_ me to wear a dress?" Marisa crossed her arms above her chest as she glared at him.

_She's a sharp one…_

"NO," Joshua said quickly, although he was about to. "I, uh, well. Do you have any dresses to wear?" He said nervously.

"I told you, I don't wear dresses."

Joshua felt a smirk coming onto his face.

"So why don't I go buy you a dress? We'll make a bet on it. I bring you back a dress, and you decide whether you like it or not"

Joshua saw she raised an eyebrow. "Really? Just one dress?"

"Yeah! Just one dress. If you don't like it, you don't have to wear it."

"All right then." He saw her lips turn up into a smirk.

Joshua smiled triumphantly, he was able to get her to agree to the bet, even though the hard part had just begun.

"But I don't know where you're going to buy a dress now that its nighttime."

"Don't worry!" he said as he walked away, smiling. "I'll find something, and you'll like it."

Joshua ran down the stairs, to the second floor. He knocked on Cormag's room and out he came, still fully dressed in his armor attire.

"Cormag, could you do me a favor and fly me into town?"

Cormag looked confused but agreed to it.

Moments later, the two were on Cormag's wyvern, soaring through the black sky.

"So why do you have to do the urgent the shopping? Cormag shouted.

It was hard to hear with the wind howling into his ears, but with experience from flying on a few wyverns, Joshua could make out what he said.

"It's for Marisa. I have to get her a dress for tomorrow." He shouted back as he held onto his hat to prevent it from flying off. One hand on the hat, the other, around Cormag's waist.

He felt Cormag's body shake in laughter as he hung onto his waist.

"What's so funny?"

"Why are you shopping for her? Most girls shop for themselves."

"Well, she's not like most girls." He quoted Marisa. "And it's kinda part of a bet."

"Ah, you haven't changed at all." Cormag commented.

They landed in the middle of the town, where the shopping district was. Joshua saw that most of the shops closed from the dark appearance.

"Okay I have to get her a dress…Oh and probably shoes… And jewelry…Argh! Why is it so difficult?" Joshua looked just about ready to pull out his hair.

"Calm down, your highness." Chuckled Cormag as he tied the reins of his wyvern to a stand. "I can look for shoes, while you look for the dress. And jewelry, I suppose."

"Really?" Joshua remembered back on the tensed conversation the two had earlier. Would he do that for her after how she behaved to him?

"Yeah, remember I promised I'll lend you my service?" He smiled at him.

"Ahh, thanks Cormag." Joshua smiled back.

After their departure, Joshua ran down the dark street, looking for any that might've been open. To his luck there was one store with a faint light. He ran to the door and pounded on it.

"We're closed!" Shouted a deep voice, yet he continued to knock.

"I said we're closed!" The door opened and out appeared and short chubby bald man.

"Oh! K-King Joshua!"

"Surely, you can make an exception?" Joshua tried to smile nicely so the man would let him in.

"Of course, you highness!" The man opened the door wide for Joshua. He strolled in as the short man lit candles everywhere so he could see.

There were rows and rows of dresses of all kinds of different colors, lengths, and style, all hung on hangers.

He picked up one dress, a red one that was the same shade as his eyes and hair.

_Hmm…Will she like this? It looks like blood... And she likes fighting…_

He put the dress down.

"Are you shopping for anyone in particular, your highness?" Joshua had forgotten the chubby man was there.

"Yes, a friend. A very stubborn friend…"

"If you don't mind, I could help pick a dress for this friend. Er, your highness."

Joshua turned to look at the man, and smiled. "I would like that. And sorry for barging into your store like that."

"No worries, your majesty!"

"And please call me Joshua."

"Erm, okay…Joshua."

"Now this friend, she has lavender hair, and a milky complexion-"

"Oh! Is it Lady Marisa?"

Joshua raised an eyebrow. "How did you know?"

"Uh, I've heard some talk about her from other people… I also heard she's quite the beauty!"

"Um, yeah she is. Would you know anything that could go well with her features?"

"I may have one in mind. Even though I've never seen her, I can picture it…" The man went to the last row on dresses and fumbled through the dresses. After a moment, the man pulled out a dress. He couldn't see the dress until it was shown in front of him.

It was a simple light pink colored dress, with laced straps to go on the shoulders. It had a v-neck line where the chest is meant to be shown. The length of the dress probably went down the ankles, where it fluffed slightly outwards.

"Hmm… Yes." Joshua tried to picture Marisa in the dress. "I think I may see her in this dress…" Joshua put his right hand on his chin and gently stroked it.

_I have to get one dress and if she doesn't like this one, I lose the bet._

Joshua didn't want to wear out the man's patience, and then decided to purchase the dress. But before he did, he took out the very coin that had won Marisa to go to the wedding.

"Your call." Joshua said. The man looked confused.

"Uh… Heads?" He said, still with the confused look on his face. Joshua flipped the coin into the air. He caught it then placed it on the back of his left hand, his right hand covering it. He exhaled deeply before revealing the face of the coin.

"Heads… I guess that means this is the dress." He looked up to smile at the man.

Joshua purchased the dress and for helping Joshua, he left the man a hearty tip.

_Now where to buy jewelry?_

Joshua scanned the dark streets then saw a figure approach him. It was Cormag.

"Joshua! I got some shoes!" he said as he held up a bag with boxes.

"Some? How much did you get?"

"I wasn't sure what color would match her, so I bought shoes of different size and colors." Cormag said nervously.

"Did you get a pink one? I just bought a pink dress." He said as he held up the bag that contained the dress.

"Oh yes! Yes I did!" He rummaged through the bag to find it.

Joshua held up one hand, "ah, let's wait until we get back, my friend. We still have to find some jewelry!"

"I'm afraid all the stores that sell those are closed."

"What? Are you sure?" Joshua nearly dropped his bag.

"I was lucky that the shoe store was still open for one more minute."

"Ah… I guess we should head back. It's getting late."

* * *

Joshua was disappointed on the way back. Even though he told her he was going to buy a dress, he wanted matching accessories to go along with it. He wanted her to look more beautiful than she usually was.

"You want me to come along with you?" Cormag asked as the two walked up the spiral stairs.

"No, you should get some rest, we got an early start tomorrow."

He saw Cormag frown. Joshua guessed Cormag wanted to see how the 'Marisa ordeal' would turn out.

Joshua hauled the heavy bag of shoes and the bag containing the dress up the stairs. He knocked on Marisa's bedroom door and seconds later, she appeared.

"You're still up?"

"I was waiting."

Joshua smiled weakly, he was tired from the trip. He placed the bag onto the ground in the middle of the room then handed her the bag with dress.

"So I got ya a dress, Cormag got you some shoes…"

"Cormag?" She asked. "I hope you didn't have too much trouble with this, 'cause I probably won't like it." She said.

"No, no troubles at all! And you'll like, trust me." He gave a small wink to her. Joshua rummaged through the bag, looking for the pink shoes Cormag said he bought. He found them and took them out to examine them.

They were a shade darker than the dress, with rounded heels. They looked like little slippers.

"Uh, sorry if they're not your size, we could have the maids hem the dress, and for the shoes, well, there's over a dozen in here. He handed the pair of shoes to Marisa. "Go try it on! And show me when you're ready."

Marisa took the items and headed to the bathroom. After she went in, Joshua laid himself onto her bed.

_So this is her room…_

He never been inside her room, but like the other guests rooms he saw, it was the same. On the bed dresser laid her sword, and in the clothes dresser probably laid her clothes. He saw that Marisa didn't have much with her. The surface the desk and dressers were empty.

He felt himself getting sleepy as he waited and decided to close his eyes. He opened them moments later when he heard the bathroom door open. He sat up and turned around to face Marisa.

He couldn't believe what he saw.

She looked magnificent. The pinkness of the dress clashed perfectly with her lavender hair and the dress hugged nicely along her waist, exposing the curves of her hips. The v-neck didn't go too far down her chest, but it exposed her cleavage and part of the scar that was on the left of her chest. The dress went down to her ankles, exposing the roundness front of the shoes.

"How do I look?" She asked.

"Oh, I-You're… Uh." Joshua couldn't find the right words to say describe her. He realized how much he was stammering.

"You look breathtaking, Marisa." He finally managed to say.

She walked over to the mirror and stared at herself.

"How do _you_ like it?" He asked as he walked up behind her. She didn't say anything and continued to stare.

_Please, please let her like it!_

"It's… Missing something." She said. Joshua looked at her reflection, with one hand on his chin.

_What was missing? …Oh right, I forgot to get some jewelry._

Then it hit him. He remembered he had a necklace in his room somewhere. It had belonged to his mother.

"Wait right here." Joshua ran out of the room and into his. He rummaged through his desk to find the small black box of his. It wasn't at his desk so he went into the bed dresser, hoping it would be there. But it wasn't.

_Where is it?_

He put his hands on hips and he scanned his room. Then he looked underneath his bed. He took out a large brown trunk, and opened it. Among the other things that belonged to his mother, he found what he was looking for.

"Aha." He took the black box then dashed next door.

Marisa was still staring at herself in the mirror, her gaze turned to him as he entered the room.

"Got it." He went up behind Marisa then pulled her hair upwards.

"Er, is it okay if I touch you?" Joshua asked. He felt his cheeks become hot from asking the strange question.

She nodded her head as he looked at her in her reflection and realized she was slightly pink.

"Okay…" He softly said to himself. He rolled her hair softly into a bun then looked into the mirror. "You could wear your hair like this." He smiled. The hairdo exposed her perfect oval face; the sharpness of her chin, her slender nose, and her pretty purple eyes.

"If you could hold this for me…" Marisa raised both her hands up to hold the bun in place.

Joshua opened to the black box, it revealed a small violet gem, the size of an eye. It dangled from a gold chain.

Joshua reached his arm around Marisa as he hooked the necklace from behind her.

"There." He said, then took a step backwards to look at Marisa.

He loved it. The necklace completed the outfit. It went well with the color of her eyes.

He couldn't help but smile at what he saw.

"I look… Beautiful." She said as she let her hair fall down so she could touch the necklace. "Where did you get this?" She played with the purple gemstone with her fingers.

"It belonged to my mother." He said.

She turned around to face him. "I can't wear this." She said, immediately taking her fingers off of it.

"Yes you can! She's gone so… You might as well wear it. It goes perfectly with your eyes and it completes the outfit."

"But. It's your mother's."

"It's okay Marisa." He said softly as he reached out to touch the gemstone. He used his thumb to rub gently against it. He remembered his mother would wear the necklace on special occasion. He wanted her to wear it all the time because it looked beautiful on her.

"…Are you okay?" Marisa broke his daze as he looked back up at Marisa.

"Oh yeah. Ahem, you said it was missing something, so here it is." He smiled at her. He let the gemstone fall gently on her skin as he put his hands in his pockets.

"So… I take it you like it? Everything fits right?" He looked her up and down once more.

"…Yes." She turned around to look at herself in the mirror. "I never thought I'd look beautiful."

Joshua met her eyes in the mirror. "What are you talking about? You're always beautiful, Marisa." He said softly. She looked down.

"Why do you think I approached you on the battlefield?" He chuckled.

"Thank you, Joshua." He saw her lips curl slightly upwards, as if she was smiling.

_The day I see Marisa smile…What are my chances of that?_

"You're very welcome Marisa. And I'm glad you're going to the wedding." He smiled at her.

"Now, it's getting late and we have to get leave at 9 so… Oh, and if you want, I can have a couple of maids come in to help you."

"Sure."

He was quite surprised she didn't protest. Perhaps she was tired.

"Alright then. Good night Marisa." Then he walked off to his bedroom.

He couldn't wait for tomorrow.

* * *

**A/N**: It's Cormag! Yeahhhh! He's pretty cool.  
Sorry if the story's so fast-paced. Just trying to keep it goin'.

Also, I'm making the men wear tuxedoes and suits at the wedding. I believe they wore some sort of tradition robe, but instead of having me attempt to describe it and end up butchering it, let's just assume they wear tuxes, okay? Okay Dokes.

Gosh, I'm lazy.


	5. Chapter 5

This chapter is veryyy long, just a heads up. Lots of stuff happens.

**Disclaimer: I don't own Fire Emblem!**

Enjoy!

**Chapter 5**

* * *

Marisa woke up as soon as the sun had rose, despite how late she stayed up last night.

There were 3 knocks on her door.

She got up and opened the door, there were 2 young ladies. "Good morning, Lady Marisa! We're here to help with your wardrobe and make-up!" One of them said cheerfully.

Marisa didn't feel comfortable having people dress her. She would've said no to Joshua's offer of having the maids help her dress up, but she noticed how exhausted Joshua was last night, so she agreed to it.

Marisa sat on her bed, already dressed, as one of the maid played with her hair, and the other plastered makeup onto her.

She sat for what felt like an eternity when the maids were finally done with her. She watched as the two left the room.

"You guys! You can't see her just yet!" One of them said. She wondered who they were talking to. Was Joshua waiting for her already?

She stood up and looked at herself in the mirror. She was the same as last night, except for her hair was now up, in a messy bun with two strand of hair, curled against the side of her face. Her lips were dark red from the lipstick that was use on her, her cheeks were slightly pink and her eyelashes were curled.

She couldn't believe that she was dressed up. This went against everything she lived for. But, since she lost the coin flip with Joshua, she couldn't go against the tradition of gambling, even though she did protest against the result. And she admittedly was slightly excited to see certain people at the wedding.

She smoothed out the dress when another three knocks were heard at her door. "Come in." she said.

She turned around to see the familiar face as he poked his head into the door.

"Marisa, are you- Whoa." Joshua revealed himself as he closed the door behind him. His long hair was tied back in a low ponytail, but his bangs and usual black hat covered the top of his head and his eyes. He was dressed in a black suit, with a white collared shirt underneath. A button or two was unbuttoned at the top, revealing a bit of his chest and a black tie was wrapped loosely around his neck. He looked quite professional and dashing.

"Tammy and Doris sure did their job!" Joshua said as he gleamed a smile.

"You look… Nice." She said.

"Huh? Oh yeah? I hate this, it's so itchy. Heh, I think I look ridiculous."

"No… You look good." And he did look good. It was a clean and professional image for him.

"Hm. Well, let us be on our way, Cormag is waiting for us."

"Cormag?" Had he decided to face Tana?

"Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you. He offered to escort us to the wedding on his wyvern. …You don't mind right?"

"No. Not at all." She walked over to grab her sword.

"Whoa! What are you doing? Do you hate him that much?" Joshua said as he rushed over to put the sword down.

_Why would he think that?_

"No. It's just, you never know when trouble might come. You always have to prepare."

"Oh. Phew. Okay. But no, we're going to a wedding, not a skirmish. So… Surely you can be without your sword for one day?"

Marisa said nothing but stare at Joshua. She didn't like this, she always had her sword with her. But seeing the pleading look on his face, she couldn't argue with him.

"Besides," Joshua said before she could say anything, "it clashes with your outfit." Joshua grinned. The very same grin he always gave. Whenever she saw it, it looked like he was up to no good, like he was planning something devious. But no matter how menacing it may have looked, it suited his handsome features quite well.

Marisa sighed quietly as she placed her sword down. "And Cormag's gonna have his weapons with him, and I trust his fighting abilities." Joshua said as he placed his hands into his pockets. "Now then, shall we go?" Joshua gestured his arm towards the door.

To Marisa's surprise, there were a several guards crowded in the hallway. As she stepped out, there were gasps and compliments thrown at her. "Oh yeah, forgot to mention, these guys lined up here waiting to see you." Joshua winked at Marisa as he smirked.

"But… Why?" Marisa was not used to being center of attention, she was always used to being off by herself. And now that she was the attention, she didn't like it.

"'Cause you're beautiful." Marisa felt her cheeks get hot. She was glad those maids put blush on her, so others wouldn't tell whether she was really blushing or not.

"Okay, you've seen her, now we must be on our way. Remember, take it easy, but not too easy!" Joshua said. The guards all formed a pathway for the two to escape from, as they did, compliments were thrown at them, mostly towards Marisa.

She shrugged if off.

They finally made their way outside the front doors, where Cormag was waiting for them with his wyvern.

"Good morning, Joshua. Good morning, Lady Marisa… Whoa." He said.

"Call me Marisa."

"Well, okay. Marisa! You look… Beautiful! And I see you're wearing those pink shoes that _I _picked out. How is it?" Cormag gleamed a bright smile.

"Good…" She didn't know what else to say. Shoes were shoes.

"Ahem, well, let's get going now." She could tell Joshua's patience was wearing out.

"Ah, we may have a problem. I couldn't get a large saddle for three people to ride on…"

"Really now?" Joshua walked slowly to the wyvern. He had his arms crossed with one hand to his chin. Marisa had often seen him do this and figured it's what he did when he was thinking.

Marisa looked at the wyvern. It huffed and puffed as it breathed. She's never been this close to one before, and quite frankly she was afraid. Unlike pegasuses, wyverns looked more ferocious. But she kept her calm.

"Alrighty then." Joshua climbed onto the saddle and scooted backwards, leaving the front part of the saddle available.

"Marisa, climb on." Joshua reached his hand downwards for her to grab.

"There won't any room for Cormag then." She took his hand anyway.

"Whoa!" Marisa was surprised to see her sitting on Joshua's lap, her legs dangled off the side of the wyvern and her left arm was wrapped around Joshua.

"Excellent idea, Joshua!" Cormag exclaimed as he got on.

_Great. I'm going to be squished between two men for a while._

"All right… Ready for take off?" Cormag pulled on the reins as the creature took flight. Marisa, unprepared for the sudden change in movement wrapped both arms around Joshua, with her head on his shoulder. She shut her eyes and waited for the shaking movement to stop.

After a while, the wyvern flew quite steadily. Marisa hadn't realize how tightly she was squeezing Joshua, or that she was hugging him. She raised her head from his shoulders and looked down to the ground. They weren't very high up, but she didn't feel very safe.

"First time on a wyvern?" Joshua asked. She looked at him. The breezy wind swayed his bangs from side to side.

She nodded.

"Don't worry, this guy ain't that mean, right Cormag?" she turned to look at Cormag, even though his back was towards them. His bright blonde hair shimmered in the sunlight.

"Nope! He's gentle as long as you don't kick him or anything." He patted the side of the wyvern and made a grunting sound. The wyvern shook as it grunted, making Marisa tip forward.

"Oof!" She grabbed on tightly to Joshua.

"Don't worry Marisa, I got you." She looked down to see that Joshua was holding onto Comag's waist, using his arms to create a barrier around her to prevent her from falling.

Joshua and Cormag conversed with each other, about the war, the after mass, Ephraim and L'Arachel. After the two shared a couple of laughs or so, it was quiet.

Marisa wondered about Tana, and if she was going to appear at the wedding. She thought back on after the war ended, the army spent one more night together before dispersing their way home.

"_Marisa? Have you've seen a blonde wyvern rider?"_

"_If you mean Cormag, then no."_

"_Oh… I see"_

"…_Why?"_

"_He left so suddenly… I offered him to come back to Frelia with me and he never gave me an answer."_

"_If he left so suddenly, his answer was probably no."_

"_No… He couldn't have said no. Not him…"_

"…"

"_I'm going to go look for him! Even if I have to search all of Magvel! Marisa, won't you accompany me?"_

"_Sorry Tana… I have to go back to the castle of Jehanna with Joshua as part of a bet."_

"_Oh…"_

"…_If I didn't have to, I would. But why…? Why would you go look for someone who probably said no to your offer?"_

"_Because! I think… I love him."_

That was the last she saw of Tana. Knowing her, Marisa believed she actually went out to seek Cormag.

"Are you going to see Tana?" Marisa asked after several minutes of silence.

Marisa could feel Joshua shift uncomfortably underneath her. She stared at Cormag to see his reaction.

"I don't plan to. I'm not ready yet." He said. "But if you want to tell her I'm in Jehanna, then go ahead."

Marisa was confused, yet surprised at this. "I guess I won't worry her anymore. Even though I still have that guilt feeling inside of me. Whatever."

Marisa didn't know what to say. She had expected him to put up more of a fight.

"I… Won't tell her." Cormag turned his head to the side.

"If you're not ready, then I won't force it." She paused. "I don't think you'll betray her. If you really care for her, that is."

"Thanks Marisa." Cormag sighed. "Now if I can get myself to believe that…"

After a while, Joshua and Cormag resumed to talk as Marisa watched as the scenery went by. The sun was glistening on the vast field of grass below them, and birds flapping their in the sky.

"Oh no… Those things are still running rampant." Marisa turned around to see what Cormag was staring at. Down in the fields, were a herd of galloping maelduins, each with a weapon at hand.

"It looks like they're heading towards those houses over there." Cormag pointed far off to the distance. Indeed, Marisa did see buildings, and the maelduins were galloping there.

"Dammit, if I had my sword here, we could go slain them!" Joshua said.

"I told you we should always have our swords prepared." Marisa didn't have to look at Joshua to see he was disgruntled at this.

"I think I may have a spare sword here…" Cormag reached down into the big sack that laid on the side of the wyvern. "Here we go." He pulled out a big sword, its blade shimmered in the sun's glow.

"I'll take it." Marisa said, as well as Joshua. She turned to look at him, ready to argue with him as to who should take the sword.

"Joshua. You're King, you shouldn't fight." She said.

"She has a point, if anything happened to you…" Cormag trailed off.

Marisa saw a displeased look on Joshua's face as he glared at Cormag even though he couldn't see. She was happy that Cormag agreed with her.

"Well. Just because I'm King, doesn't mean I'm a weakling. I fought off hundreds of them in the war! And besides… I would hate to see your dress get ruined if you fought." Joshua was grinning.

Marisa rolled her eyes at this, she could care less if the dress got ruined.

"Hm, he does have a point." Surprised at the sudden change of side, Marisa turned to look at Cormag.

"I would also hate to see your beautiful gown get ruined. Well, make up your minds guys, we're catching up to them."

"I should go."

"No, I should go."

This went on for some time when Cormag interrupted with a question. "Would either one of you know how to use a lance?"

"I may have wielded one once or twice." Joshua said. An arrow shot up from the side, barely missing them.

"Oh crap." The wyvern swayed to the side as it descended. The wyvern landed on the ground, meters away from the charging maelduins. Marisa jumped down, having trouble regaining her balance on the chunky heel of her shoes. Cormag threw the sword towards Marisa as she charged at them. She held her dress up as she ran to have more freedom for her legs. She thought she heard Joshua shouting after her, but she ignored it. She figured that the more she killed, the less Joshua would have to fight, especially since he was inexperienced with the lance.

The maelduins didn't put up quite the fight Marisa was hoping for. One by one, they came at her, but with a quick slash to the chest, they fell before turning into ashes. After killing over a dozen, she scanned ahead to see if any more would come, but she only saw the open fields of grass swaying against the wind.

She turned to her left to see how the blonde warrior was doing. Cormag was a ferocious fighter, even off his wyvern he was tough. She watched as he jabbed his lance through the oncoming maelduins with no trouble at all.

Then Marisa glanced to her right to see how the crimson haired King was doing. She saw he was having difficulties holding the massive lance, but he fought on nevertheless. She couldn't help but to stare at his form. Many times Marisa found herself staring at Joshua on the battlefields during the war. He was graceful as he swung his sword around. It was beautiful to watch.

Her daze broke off when she heard loud hoofs charging towards her from behind. She raised her sword and turned around, surprised to see ah axe inches away from her face. She could do nothing but dodge it. She jumped backwards, only to step on the bottom of her dress and fall backwards.

She felt something warm and wet trickling down her left cheek. She raised her fingers up to touch it and when she lifted it, she saw blood.

"MARISA!" She turned to look at Joshua as he ran towards the maelduin that struck her. Before it could drop its axe downwards onto her, Joshua slashed the chest of the maelduin, then it disappeared into ashes.

Joshua dropped the lance then bent forward to look at Marisa. She saw his eyes widen.

"You're bleeding!" he exclaimed. He bit off the sleeve of his black tuxedo and took the ripped cloth to her face. Marisa was surprised at his action. She looked down to the damage he did on his sleeve. The white collared sleeve was shown now that the black sleeve was gone.

Joshua took Marisa's face into hands, his left was on her cheek holding the cloth as it drenched in her blood, and his other hand was to hold her steady.

"Are you alright? Are you injured anywhere else? Can you walk?" Marisa was bombarded with questions from the very concerned Joshua, she couldn't answer them in time before Joshua asked another. In the corner of her eyes, she said Cormag walk over.

"How is she? Oh! That's quite a nasty gash." Cormag said. She was surprised she didn't feel the pain when the axe struck her, she figured it wasn't that big of a cut. But after how Joshua reacted and what Cormag had said, she wondered how badly it looked.

"C'mon, we gotta get you some help." Joshua lifted Marisa up into his arms. Marisa was holding the cloth in place on her cheek.

"Whoa! Joshua. Put me down." Marisa was shocked to see Joshua this overly concerned. What happened to the slack gambler? It was just a cut on her cheek, she still could walk.

"No, you're bleeding. We need help." Joshua walked rather fiercely towards Cormag's wyvern. She heard Cormag's footstep as he jogged towards the two.

"I'm fine. I can walk. Just put me down." She kept her tone calm in hope that it would calm Joshua.

"Yeah, Joshua, she's fine. What's gotten into you?" Cormag said.

Joshua stopped. Marisa looked at him, but his head was bowed down so she couldn't see into his eyes.

"I'm sorry." He sighed, then gently placed her down. He walked over to the wyvern, Marisa and Cormag stood in place as they watched him.

"What's gotten into him…" Mumbled Cormag. He turned to Marisa, "but you're okay, right?" He asked.

"Yes." She took the cloth off and looked at how much of her blood has soaked into it. The black cloth had turned to a shade of dark red.

"I have a vulnerary in one of the sack to stop the bleeding."

After Cormag had smeared a dab of vulnerary onto Marisa's face, they were in the sky now. Joshua hadn't said anything, and Marisa could see he was avoiding her gaze as he was looking off to the side.

She wanted to ask him why he had… Changed back then, but decided to leave him alone. It wasn't long before the Majestic castle of Rausten was seen. They descended just in front of the gates of the castle.

"So uh, I'll pick you guys up at 9 tonight, right?" Cormag asked.

"Hm, yes." Joshua nodded his head. Marisa thought this was all he was going to say, but he continued. "And you're sure you won't come in to say hi to a few people?"

"Yeah I'm sure. Besides, I'm not even properly dressed!" Corgmag smiled, he was happy to see that Joshua was talking again.

"Haha! Okay, but since you won't stay. Would you mind looking after the castle?"

"Oh? Me? Uh, that's a pretty big responsibility."

"Hah, no it's not. You won't have to do anything, just make sure everything is at it was before we left. There'll be other guards there too, but I'm putting you in charge for the day." Joshua grinned.

"Okay then, I won't let you down, King Joshua!" Cormag smiled as he saluted.

"Now have fun at the wedding you two." And off Cormag went.

Marisa and Joshua were left in silence as both averted each other's gaze. "So." Marisa broke the silence. "Let's go." She began to walk.

She was stopped when she felt Joshua's warm hand grasped onto her wrist.

"Marisa… About before." She turned to look at him. He looked different. Instead of seeing the carefree grin on his face, she saw sadness.

"I'm sorry… It's just that. Well… If anything ever happened to you, I don't think I'll be able to forgive myself." Marisa felt her heart thumping a bit faster. She never knew how deeply concerned Joshua was for her, could it be because….?

"You don't have to apologize. It was my fault for not paying attention." She said. It _was _her fault. If she hadn't been starting at Joshua, she would've easily cut down that maelduin, although she chose to leave out this part of the information.

"No, it's my fault. I'm King of Jehanna now, I have to look out for all my people."

_Oh… _Marisa felt a tad bit disappointed that it wasn't just her he was deeply concerned about but his people. But she was relieved at the same time, for that she was suggesting he had feelings for her or whatnot. Of course he didn't. They were just sparring partners and nothing more.

"And if I let anything happened to you, I don't think Gerik would ever forgive me. He'd probably cut me down." Joshua grinned.

_Ah, there's that grin. _She knew Joshua was back to normal now.

"Uh, but we should see someone about that cut, we wouldn't want that to become a scar." Still holding onto her wrist, Joshua gently led her into the castle.

The Rausten castle was magnificent. Its hallways were much bigger then the one at Jehanna. Its stone walls and floor looked as if they were bleached, probably from cleaning, and massive beautiful painting hung on the walls.

After asking for directions to the medic room, they finally arrived in there. A young woman chanted a spell as she waved her staff around Marisa. The woman left after she was done. Marisa was still sitting on the bed when Joshua walked up to her. He reached down and put his hand softly on her chin and turned her head to the right.

Marisa was taken by surprised by the sudden feat, but did nothing and sat there as she felt her heart beat faster.

"Hm. That was a nice job she did, there's nothing there!" He let got of her chin as he smiled.

"Was it that bad?" She asked.

"You were bleeding quite a lot, so yes, it was that bad." She looked down at the bloodied cloth in her hands. She handed it to him.

"You didn't have to rip your sleeve." She said as he took it. He chuckled.

"I didn't know what to do! And I _hate _these clothes. I wish I could rip them up."

"But now you look odd." She looked at the uneven sleeves. "Maybe you could…" She took his left arm, which was unscathed, then using her strength, ripped a chunk of the black fabric off. She had ripped it slightly lower then his right arm's, but it matched. In a ragged kind of way.

Joshua laughed heartily as he looked at his sleeves. "I can start a new trend with this! Thanks Marisa!" He continued to laugh. Marisa felt her lips curl up at his reaction. He rolled the white collared up to match the ripped sleeves.

"Well, I guess we should be heading towards the garden, the ceremony is about to start." He said after he calmed down.

The two didn't have trouble finding where the garden was, they followed the crowds of people that were heading in same direction. They were led outside to the garden. Unlike the garden at the Jehanna castle, it was huge, flowers, bushes, and trees surrounded the place. The ground was tiled with stones, and the walls were stones as well. Trees from the forest outside the garden were poking its branches within the garden. It had a very earthy feel. Rows of chairs were set up, all facing the front. A beautifully decorated arc was at the front, where a bishop was standing. Along the walls were tables filled with food and drinks. Already, people were seated in the chairs.

Marisa and Joshua found the only 2 available seats near the back.

"I don't see anyone from the war…" Joshua said as he gazed around at the seated people. "All I see are Dukes, Nobles… Ech." Joshua then positioned himself to sit normally.

"Everyone! The ceremony is about start! If I can have everyone find their seats…" Said a deep voice. The two turned to face the sound of the voice. They saw Dolza, L'Arachel's faithful bodyguard. Instead of wearing his usual red amour, he was wearing a deep blue tuxedo, which seemed a bit too tight for him, his rippling muscles were very visible through the clothing. And his unruly green hair was slicked back.

The ceremony commenced, Ephraim walked down the red carpeted aisle. He was dressed in a similar tuxedo to Joshua's except it was a slightly lighter color of black and a long white scarf was draped around his bold shoulders.

Marisa recognized the three best men that stood next to the Prince. The ponytailed blonde was the lazy knight, Forde. To the left of him was the loyal green haired knight, Kyle. And finally to the left of Kyle was Franz, Forde's younger and more courageous brother. They all wore similar suits, dark brown, but instead of ties, they were brown bowties.

Marisa was feeling bored, so she crossed her arms to prevent herself from fidgeting. Finally, everyone stood up. This was the first wedding Marisa had ever gone to, seeing everyone stand up, she followed suit and stood up. Everyone faced the aisle, so did she. She saw the beautifully dressed L'Arachel walk down the aisle, with the Emperor, Mansel, L'Arcachel's uncle.

L'Arachel wore a puffy white dress, hung by two skinny strings held against her shoulders. She held a bouquet of colorful flowers and veil was rested on her head that went down her back. Her shouldered-length chartreused hair curled against her porcelain face. She looked like an angel, Marisa thought. But she also knew from hearing her talk, she sounded like no angel.

The bishop began to talk, about the Gods, Ephraim and L'Arachel… Frankly, Marisa didn't care, she was bored.

"How long does this go on for?" Marisa whispered as she leaned in to Joshua.

"Uh, shouldn't be too long… Are you already bored?" Joshua shot a smirk at her.

"Yes." She faced the front again, and sighed heavily.

After what took forever to her, Epraim and L'Arachel were pronounced husband and wife and kissed. Everyone cheered.

"Finally!" She got up as everyone else stood up. "Let's go home."

"The party had just begun, Marisa. Didn't you hear Cormag saying he'd pick us up at night?"

"What?" Marisa frowned.

Joshua gave out a subtle laugh. "I think that maelduin did more than just cut you. Now c'mon! I think I see Gerik and Tethys." Joshua grabbed Marisa's wrist and led her through the crowds of people.

Marisa didn't like it that Joshua held onto her as he led her, it made her feel like a puppy on a leash, as if it didn't know where to go. But she couldn't simply shake off the King's hand.

Marsia scanned the people ahead of her, hoping she'd recognize some people. Finally, her eyes landed on a familiar looking group of people.

She saw Ephraim, arm in arm with his new bride, L'Arachel. The Prince of Frelia, Innes, in a sky blue suit was to Ephraim's left, and his left was Gerik. Instead of wearing a tuxedo like all the men were, Gerik wore white collared shirt, with the sleeve rolled up to his elbow. The shirt hugged very tightly as it exposed his muscles in his arms, his chest and his back. His hair was nicely slicked back, without the use of his headband that he usually wore. And of course, he had his arm around Tethys. She wore a simple red dress that matched the color of her hair. The dress was sleeveless and went down just above her knees, it exposed her very slim legs.

"Well, well. If it isn't the King of the sands, Joshua." Innes said. The rest of the group turned to look and Marisa and Joshua.

"Hm, and nice to see you too, Innes. Say, you still owe me 5 000 gold coins." Joshua replied, his hand still wrapped around Marisa's wrist.

Innes let out a soft chuckle. "Still a gambler I see. Oh, and who's this lovely friend of yours?" All eyes were on Marisa. She could see Tethys hold a hand to her mouth as if she were holding in a laugh, and Gerik with a wide grin on his face.

Marisa turned he gaze towards Innes. His eyes were intensely staring into her eyes. She felt uncomfortable, so she shifted her gaze to the right, where Ephraim stood. His eyes too, were staring intensely at her.

Marisa cleared her throat, so she could tell the two confused men who she was, but before she could, Joshua placed his hand that wasn't holding her, onto her arm, as to signal her not to say anything.

"It's only been a month since the war ended. She fought alongside with us! Don't tell me you've already forgotten, O great strategist of Magvel." Joshua joked. "Oh, not you too, Ephraim." Joshua gave out a soft laugh.

Marisa also heard a giggle come out of Tethys.

"I'm just trying to remember when we ever recruited someone so beautiful." Ephraim said as he gave out a smile. Marisa felt herself blush.

"You fools!" Exclaimed L'Arachel after a moment of silence, "she's who they call the 'Crimson Flash'! Marisa!"

"Oohhhh." Innes and Ephraim said, almost in unison.

Innes cleared his throat, then stuck out his hand. "Well met, Marisa. You know, back in Frelia, people talk about you and how skillful you are with sword." Marisa took her hand into Innes' hand and shoot it.

"Hi, um, Prince Innes." She said.

"Just Innes will do."

"And people back in Renais talk about the famous Crimson Flash as well. If you weren't under Jehanna's services, I would hire you." Ephraim said as he shook Marisa's hand.

Marisa simply nodded her head to him then turned to greet L'Arachel.

"Of course I would remember you! With my intelligence blessed by those above, I have the memory of 10 elders put together!" She said as she shook Marisa's hand.

Marisa didn't know what to say, she wasn't quite sure she understood what she just said.

"Hi L'Arachel. You look beautiful. So does this wedding."

"Thank you! Of course I would have to look beautiful, it _is _my wedding day. Although I am beautiful all the time, I look more radiant, do I not?"

This was the first time Marisa had ever talked to L'Arachel. She knew how the now Queen, was egotistical from overhearing conversations she had with others (she was quite loud), but now that she was faced to converse with the much talkative Queen, she didn't know how to respond.

"Okay, dear," Ephraim patted the arm of L'Arachel, "let's not bore the guests. Look, there's your uncle, let's go talk to him, okay?" Ephraim said in a soothing voice.

"Huh? Oh, yes! Let's go!" L'Arachel replied.

"We'll see you guys later." Ephraim said as he left with his new bride.

"Tootle-loos!" Squealed L'Arachel.

"Man… I feel sorry for Ephriam." Gerik said.

"I thought I knew Ephraim, but I never knew he liked… Those type of women." Innes said as he swished the champagne around in his glass.

"But you gotta admit, she's quite the looker." Joshua said. Gerik and Innes quickly agreed.

Tethys scoffed. "Is that all you men care about? Looks? She may be a tad self-absorbent, but she's sincere and kind."

"Of course looks are important. I got you, don't I?" Gerik smirked as he moved Tethys close to him.

Tethys rolled her eyes then lifted Gerik's arm off of her.

"Come, Marisa. Let's leave them to have their degrading talk of women, while we have our own girl talk." Tethys placed her hand on Marisa's shoulder.

"Um, okay." She inched away from Joshua's hands on her arm.

"Dude, what happened to your sleeves?" Marisa heard Gerik ask as she and Tethys walked away. Marisa was hoping Joshua wouldn't tell Gerik what happened. She didn't want more people worrying over her.

"So, Marisa, how have you been? I would believe that living in a castle had made you feel like a princess. You look like one!" Tethys said.

"No. It's been alright. Joshua's been busy."

"Hm. Well, I'm glad you came. Ewan has been constantly asking about you." Marisa wasn't surprise at this, she knew the young boy had some admiration towards her.

When she joined Gerik's mercenaries some years back, she didn't care for those around her, especially Ewan. She thought of him as 'the annoying kid that always hung around.' One day, Ewan was mugged on the streets by a group of bandits. Marisa happened to pass by and saw the frightened Ewan on the ground. She quickly rushed over and took care of the bandits and retrieved his belongings. Ever since then, Ewan had always followed her around.

Tethys thought this was cute, she called Marisa his 'heroine'. And Tethys was sure that Ewan had a crush on Marisa, but Marisa didn't care. He was 10 years younger than her, and she still viewed him as that 'annoying kid'.

"Strange isn't it?" Tethys asked as she looked amongst the crowd of people.

"What is?" Marisa followed Tethys' gaze.

"How a war was able to bring so many people together… Like Ephraim and L'Arachel, Innes and Eirika, Gerik and I…" Tethys continued to name couples.

Marisa let Tethys voice trail off as she looked at the crowd. She saw familiar faces. She saw the princess of Renias, Eirika, the smug of a rouge, Rennac, the knights of Renais, Forde, Kyle and Franz.

She was a little bit happy to see such familiar faces.

"…You and Joshua." Tethys finished. Marisa had almost forgotten what Tethys was talking about, but remembered seconds after.

"What?" Marisa turned to look at Tethys.

"Oh? You two aren't together? You guys were holding hands before, and I saw the way he looked at you."

"That's- No- It was only, You're-" Marisa felt her face turn hot as she continued to stammered.

Tethys laughed.

"What's so funny?" Marisa was having déjà vu. This all seemed so familiar.

"Oh Marisa, you're too cute. How I missed you." She shot a warm smile to Marisa. As if her feet had a mind of their own, Marisa began to walk away.

"Why are you leaving?" Tethys called after her.

"I'm not leaving… I have to go somewhere!" Marisa called back. She heard Tethys let out a laugh.

Marisa's feet took her over to the table filled with drinks. She looked down at the colorful drinks.

_No water? _Marisa wasn't a drinker, she saw how strange Gerik turned when he was drunk before, and she didn't want the same to happen to her.

"Well, hello stranger." Said a voice. Marisa turned to the left and saw the familiar blue-haired man.

"Colm. Hi." Marisa stuck out her hand. Colm looked down confusedly at her hand.

"Hi Marisa." He grabbed her hand and shook it. "No offence, but I never took you as the party type person… Or a shaking hands person."

"Oh. I'm not." She quickly let go of Colm's hand. She guessed it was because Innes, Ephraim and L'Arachel shook her hand before, she felt obligated to shake hands with everyone she saw.

"Well, how have you been? Have you conquered that mountain of yours yet?" Colm asked, as he put his hands in his pockets. Marisa noticed he wasn't wearing a tuxedo like the others were, but instead, was in the outfit that he wore during the war.

"Good. And no, not yet. Why aren't you dressed up?" Marisa felt a little anger rise from her, if Colm got to wear whatever he wanted, she could've too.

"Oh, because I'm not actually at the wedding." Colm winked at her. Marisa waited for him to explain himself, but after he said nothing, she asked what he meant by that.

"I didn't want to go because Neimi couldn't go. But being sly as he is, Ephraim hired me to watch out for the treasures here. I kind of need the money."

Marisa was still confused. "Why couldn't Neimi come?"

"Because she's pregnant."

_Hm, already pregnant? _Marisa knew the two would end up together, whenever Colm yelled at Neimi for crying, Marisa saw the look of concern in his eyes as he did. Similar to Joshua's, when she was bleeding earlier…

"Oh. Congratulations." Marisa said.

"Thanks. To be honest with you, I'm kinda scared."

Marisa wondered what he could possibly be afraid of. "Why's that?" She asked.

"Because! I'm going to be a father soon! I dunno a thing about kids. What if I set him on fire or something?"

Marisa couldn't help but smile at his worrisome.

"Don't worry. I know you'll be a great father." She tried to make her tone sound assuring, but Colm continued to freak out more.

"Marisa!" squealed a familiar voice. She almost tumbled over from the impact of the unsuspecting hug from Ewan.

She looked down as Ewan wrapped his arms tightly around Marisa' waist and his head buried in her stomach.

"Heya scamp." Colm said as he reached over and ruffled with Ewan's hair.

"Hey! I spent a long time doing my hair!" Ewan quickly let go of Marisa and fixed his hair, though it looked pretty much the same as before.

He looked up at Marisa. "Marisa! I've been looking for you. How are you? How's the castle? I bet it's big! Have you been fighting any nasty bad guys?..." Ewan continued to ask questions.

"Man, the kid can talk a lot…" Colm whispered. "Hey, why don't you slow down?" He said.

"Excuseeeee me! I wasn't asking you, Colm!" Ewan said.

"Haha, I lost you after the first ten questions. And I'm sure Marisa lost interest the moment you spoke." Colm smirked.

"What? No! Marisa!" Ewan pouted his lips. Marisa sighed.

"Start over again. And one question at a time." She said.

"Okay! Okay! Uh… How are you?"

"Good." Marisa continued to answer Ewan's constant questions.

"I hope my kid doesn't turn out to be like him…" Marisa heard Colm mumble to himself.

"Are you and King Joshua in love with each other?" Ewan asked.

"What? Why would you say that?" Marisa getting tired of people suggesting she was with Joshua.

"Because I saw you holding hands with him." Marisa saw that Ewan looked sadder than his usual chirper self.

"Uh. No. We're just friends."

"Really?" Ewan asked happily. He was back to his normal self.

Marisa nodded.

"Good. 'Cause I don't trust him. Did you know he took almost all of Master Saleh's money?"

"Hey Ewan!" shouted a voice. The voice belonged to Ross, the young warrior and son of Garcia.

"'Kay, I gotta go, see ya around Marisa!" Ewan ran off.

"If I didn't know any better, I would say that that kid has a crush on you." Colm said after Ewan had run off.

"Nah. It's nothing." Marisa said.

"Well, I guess I should go guard those treasures like I was hired to. See ya, Marisa." Colm said as he waked off.

"Bye." She said. She sighed. She was glad she was left alone, but at the same time, she wanted to converse with someone, like the crowd of people were doing in front of her.

"Marisa? Is that you?" Marisa turned and saw the Princess of Frelia, Tana.

"Tana."

"Oh! Marisa, it's soooo good to see you again!" Tana rushed in and gave Marisa a hug.

Marisa didn't hug back, but instead patted Tana's back with one hand.

_I'm getting tired of being hugged…_

"Oh sorry." Tana said as she broke away from Marisa's body. Tana was wearing a pink dress, a deeper color than Marisa's. It reached the ground and was very flow-y. It made Tana look like an angel. All of her hair was tied up in a ponytail, except for her bangs.

"Well, how are you? How's that King treating you?" Tana asked.

"Good." Marisa said. "…How are you? You've been searing for Cormag?" Marisa had been wondering what was going on with Tana and Cormag.

"Umm," Tana looked down, "well, after that night, I set to look for him. But stupid of me to not bring a map! But luckily Syrene and Vanessa found me. Boy, Innes yelled at me for a long time, but not as long as father did..."

Marisa didn't say anything.

Tana continued, "but now that Frelia's has been rebuilt, I can go search for him. I plan on doing so right away! Maybe I'll start in Grado. I would believe he's still there rebuilding everything that's been lost in the war, but he also said he wouldn't stay very long..."

Tana was strong-willed and very determined and Marisa respected her for that. It pained Marisa to see Tana like this. She was deciding whether or not she should tell Tana that the man she's looking for was living with her back in the castle.

"Tana." Marisa said. Tana looked at her.

"What if... What if Cormag is dead?" Marisa decided not to tell Tana... Just yet.

"What? Do you know something?" Tana sounded frightened.

"No. I'm just saying. What if he's dead, and you didn't know. All your searching would be for naught."

"Well..." Tana wrapped her arms around herself, "It wouldn't be for nothing. I'll be searching to see if he was still alive. Even if he was dead, I'd still search for him. Until I see his body, then I'll believe he's gone."

"..." Marisa thought that was ridiculous, searching for somebody who's already dead. It would be a waste of time.

"Why?" Marisa asked.

"I don't know. Because I love him."

Marisa wondered to herself if that's what love did to people, make them do stupid things.

Tana looked back up to Marisa, "oh! I must be boring you now. I'm sorry!" A smile appeared on her cheery face.

"No... Not at all, Tana. You're... Pretty strong." Marisa said.

Tana giggled. "No, no, I'm not." Tana shot a smile to Marisa.

"Well, let's go! We got a lot of catching up to do. Not just you and me, but other people as well!" Tana reached over and grabbed Marisa's hand, intertwining her hands with Marisa's. Again, Marisa was uncomfortable with the physical contact. But she couldn't simply shake off the princess' hand.

_Why do they always hold onto me?_

Marisa shrugged it off, and followed Tana through the crowd of decorated dressed people.

* * *

Night came, and it was time to eat dinner. The large crowd of people made their way into the ballroom, where tables were situated all around the huge room.

"Marisa." Joshua crept behind Marisa. "I was looking everywhere for you. I hope you're not having too much fun, you're supposed to be doing that with me." Joshua grinned.

"Actually, I am." Marisa admitted. Although she didn't talk a lot to the people that she came across, she was enjoying herself.

Joshua frowned. "Really? Well, wait until after we eat. We'll have plenty of fun." He said.

"Why? What's happening?"

"We dance."

"...I don't dance." Marisa said.

"Oh Marisa, Marisa... First you didn't party, but look where you are. And then, you didn't wear dresses, but look what you're wearing. Eventually you're gonna dance with me." Joshua had a big grin planted on his face.

Marisa simply rolled her eyes as Joshua chuckled.

"I thought I recognized you from your hat, King Joshua." Marisa and Joshua turned around. It was an elderly man, probably in his 50s, he wore a black tuxedo and his grey hair was combed back. On his left eye, he wore a monocle. To his left was an elderly woman, also in her 50s. Despite her age, she had very minimum wrinkles.

"Oh, Duke Harold, and Duchess Lana. How do you do?" Joshua shook hands with the elder man.

"Good! Good! You know, we have some land issues we have to talk to you about. Why don't you join us at the table?"

"Oh... Ah…" Joshua looked at Marisa, as if he were asking permission from her for him to go sit with them.

"Go." Marisa said. She realized that Joshua had to be King first, before a friend.

"Are you sure?" Whispered Joshua.

Marisa nodded and walked off.

_Who to sit with? _Marisa scanned the tables to see if there were anyone she could sit with.

"Marisa!" Ewan shouted. Marisa walked over to the table. "Wanna sit with us?" He asked.

Marisa looked at the people who sat at the table. To Ewan's right was Ross, and then Ewan's teacher, Saleh, Lute and Artur. There was one empty seat between Artur and Ewan.

"Sure." Marisa said, then sat down.

The group waited for the food to be brought out. Saleh, Lute and Artur conversed with each other, while Ewan and Ross joked around.

Finally, the food was brought out. Each person got their own plate of fish. They were all unusually big salmons.

"Wow! This fish is big! What is it, Master Saleh?" Ewan asked as he poked his fish with a fork.

"They're salmons, Ewan. And they're supposed to be this big." Saleh replied.

"I don't think I can finish it…" Ewan said.

"C'mon! You have to eat up. Then you can have big muscles like I do!" Ross flexed his arm. They were pretty big for a boy so small, thought Marisa.

They then commenced to dig into their food. With the knife in her left hand, and the fork in her right, Marisa cut the fish small pieces.

"Marisa. You're left handed." Lute observed

"Yes." Marisa replied, without looking up from her food.

"That shows a sign of intelligence. I bet you read a lot of books."

Marisa simply shook her head. She didn't like to be talked to when she was eating, so to amuse Lute, she simply shook or nodded her head at her questions.

"Really? Then I bet you're just naturally smart! Did you know that the planets revolved around the sun?"

Marisa shook her head.

"How about that the ingredients contained in an elixir?"

Again, Marisa shook her head.

Lute continued to ask questions after questions. Marisa shook her head at every single one of them. She heard Artur sigh in exasperation.

"Oh, this is interesting. Out of all the left-handed people I've met, you have got to be to less intelligent out of all them.

Marisa shot her head up to Lute. "Did you just call me dumb?"

"Hm? Oh yeah, I guess I did." Lute replied.

Marisa clenched the knife in her left hand. She was just about ready to cut the mage.

"Marisa's not dumb!" Ewan shouted, after a moment of tensed silence. Everyone at the table had their eyes on Ewan.

"In fact, she's the smartest person I know! Er, besides you, Master Saleh. But, you don't need to read books to be smart!"

"Yeah! Like me! I've never read a book in my life and I'm plenty of smart!" Exclaimed Ross. "I got what you call, 'street smart'."

"Street smart?" Lute asked.

"Yeah! It means you know your way around the towns, and places. You know how to survive on your own." Ross answered enthusiastically.

"Well, Marisa is street smart and intelligent!" Ewan shot a bright smile at her.

"Hm. Thanks Ewan." Marisa smiled back.

The group resumed to eat. Not long after they were finish, everyone left to socialize with other people and Marisa was left alone at the table.

"Mind if I join you?" Gerik asked as he pulled the empty chair on her left out.

"Go ahead."

Gerik sat down, letting a loud exhale as he did.

"So, Joshua told me what happened earlier." He said.

"Oh?" She was hoping Joshua hadn't told him.

"Yeah. I nearly beat the crap outta him for letting that happen."

"It was nothing."

"Nothing? From how Joshua described it, it looked like it would've turned into one big nasty scar. …Too bad, we could've been scar buddies." Gerik grinned as he pointed to the scar that laid across his face.

"Hm. Sure thing, Chief."

"One thing bugs me though. I know it's not like you to just space out in the middle of a battlefield."

"Joshua said I spaced out?" Marisa wondered what the King told Gerik.

"Well, he said you were just kind of standing there, staring at nothing," She wasn't starting at nothing, she was staring at Joshua. But she didn't want to tell him that.

"I was just… Thinking." Marisa lied.

"Thinking? What could you possibly thinking about in the middle of a fight?" Gerik raised an eyebrow to her.

"Just stuff. It was nothing."

"…Okay, but don't let that happen again. I don't wanna lose my pal."

_His pal… He just thinks of me as just a friend. _

"Hey Marisa. Wanna dance?" Gerik looked at the dance floor. Marisa followed his gaze. There were only a handful of couples dancing.

"Why don't you dance with Tethys?" Marisa asked.

"Ehh, she disappeared somewhere. Come dance with me." Before Marisa could say anything, Gerik had already led her onto the dance floor.

"I don't know how to dance." Marisa said as Gerik put one arm around her waist, and the other in her hand. She looked down to hide her flushed face, even though she knew she was wearing blush, she thought her face had turned all red.

"Y'know, I don't know either. We'll just sway side to side. It'll look like we're dancing, haha!" Gerik smiled. And so they did. They're feet took small steps left and right as their body swung slightly side to side.

The two danced in silent, as Marisa's heart beated faster and faster.

_This isn't helping me fight off my feelings for him…_

As much as Marisa wanted to get rid of whatever feelings she had for Gerik, something always pulled the two together. Whether it was fighting alongside with him or dancing, those feelings always returned.

"I forgot to tell you how beautiful you look tonight." Gerik said.

_Damn him. Why does he have to be so nice…?_

"O-oh. Thanks. You look pretty fancy yourself."

"Haha! Thanks, but I know I look like a doofus."

"Mind if I cut in?" The two turned around and found themselves facing Joshua.

"…Sure, but if you do anything to her-"

"We're just gonna dance! Relax Gerik!" Joshua chuckled.

"Okay. But I'm watching you." Gerik let go of Marisa and walked away, and Joshua took his place.

"Uh, I can't dance." Marisa said.

"I was watching you and lover boy dance for a good 10 minutes."

"Lover boy? And we weren't dancing, we were swaying."

"I'm just kidding! And lucky for you, I'm a master at swaying." Joshua grinned.

Marisa rolled her eyes, she didn't think she could ever take Joshua seriously. She noticed how closely Joshua held her against his body, and how tightly he hand was intertwined with hers. She felt her face get hot, but couldn't look down, because of how close they were, she would have laid her head on his shoulders, so she looked off to the side.

Her gaze fell on Gerik and Tethys, they too, were dancing. Their foreheads were pressed against each other, Gerik hugged her close to his body and they were smiling at each other.

As much as she wanted to look away, she couldn't. She was envious. She wished she was in Gerik's arm again. She felt so safe, so secluded from everything in the world…

"You still like Gerik, huh?" Marisa looked up at Joshua. He was at least a head taller than her.

"What are you talking about? I don't like him."

"I see it in your eyes." Joshua didn't give off his usual smirk or grin, his face was still.

He caught her, but Marisa didn't say anything back, instead she looked to the other side and saw Natasha, the beautiful cleric, dancing with the Silver Knight of Renais, Seth.

Several times, during the war, Marisa would catch Joshua talking to Natasha. Whenever they did, Natasha's usual pale face would turn pink, probably from something Joshua had said. She noted that all the women he talked to in the army, he always had a smirk or grin on his face, but when he was around Natasha, his face would look still, like he was serious. She wondered if Joshua liked Natasha.

Marisa looked up to Joshua to see if he was watching Natasha, and surely enough, he was.

"Do you like Natasha?" Marisa asked.

Joshua didn't flinch, but continued to stare.

"As a friend, yeah… She's great."

Marisa didn't say anything.

"But she's taken." Joshua finished.

"Yeah… Gerik is taken too." Marisa didn't know why, but those words seemed to have slipped out.

"They're hearts and minds have already settled on someone else." Joshua said.

"…And there's nothing we can do about it." Marisa finished.

Joshua sighed heavily. "Then I think it's time for us to move on. What do you say, Marisa?"

Marisa simply nodded, and Joshua shifted their position so now their backs were towards the one they have loved.

Marisa watched Natasha over Joshua's shoulder. She watched as Natasha smiled at whatever Seth whispered into her ear.

_Nice smile. _Marisa thought. A smile like that could swoon over any men.

* * *

_(Later on that night:)_

Marisa woke up to a familiar surrounding. She opened her eyes and her vision was blurred. She could tell it was still nighttime, because of the candles lit on her bed dresser. She could make out the red couch that laid against the wall of her bedroom, the empty desk she rarely used, and the soft blanket that enveloped her body.

But she felt something different. The fabric of her bed sheets and blanket was felt everywhere on her body. She looked down. She was naked.

She looked around the bed, she was alone, then she sat up. Her head spun as she did. She groaned as she put one head on her forehead, the other to hold her blank up to her chest. She closed her eyes, hoping that the headache will go away.

"Oh. Marisa, you're up." She opened her eyes and saw the fully clothed red haired King standing at the end of the bed.

She didn't know what was going on. Why was she naked? Why is Joshua here? Why did her head hurt?

"For one glass of champagne, you black out easily." He said.

"Why… Why am I naked?" She managed to say, her head still throbbing.

"Oh… Long story. But it's not what it looks like!" Marisa wanted him to get right to the chase. She wanted answers.

"_Why _am I naked?" She managed to make it sound demanding after the pain in her had subsided.

"Ohh…Uh, you blacked out, so I had to carry you in here. I decided to change you outta your clothes so you could be comfy. You didn't even flinch when I took your shoes off or dab your face with the wet towel…" Joshua sounded frightened.

_That means… He saw me naked? _Marisa was disgusted, she felt like her privacy had been invaded, that she was taken advantage of.

"Get out." Was all Marisa could say.

"What?"

"You heard me. Get out." She clutched on tightly to the blanket to her chest while pointing at the door to signal him to get out.

"Oh, okay." Joshua mumbled to himself. He walked quickly to the door.

"Uh, Sorry Marisa!" Joshua called out before he shut the door behind him.

"Out!" She nearly shouted.

Marisa sighed as she rubbed her temples.

_He saw me naked…That pig. How can I get back at him…?_

Then Marisa began to build a plan.


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I don't own Fire Emblem.**

Enjoy!

**Chapter 6**

* * *

Joshua dreaded waking up the next morning. Not because he had yet started on that speech he had to give in a week to the townspeople, but because he wanted to avoid Marisa at all means possible.

He was surprised at how easily she blacked out from one glass of champagne. She seemed fine after she drank it down, but on the way back home, she fell asleep in his arms.

Although, what surprised him more was how she snored quite loudly in her sleep.

_I knew I should've let her the way she was!_

As Joshua laid Marisa down on her bed, he had contemplated whether he should leave her alone, or change her into her nightgown. He was worried that she'll wake up sore and uncomfortable.

She didn't flinch when he almost tripped on the stairs carrying her, or how harshly he threw her onto her bed.

_Why not? She's out cold. _

To his surprise, she awoke in the midst of the changing process. He couldn't blame her for being mad, no woman wants to be seen naked without their consent. But he didn't see her naked! As he stripped the dress away, he tried his very best to look away.

But curiosity the best out of him. It wasn't his intention to look at her body, he only wanted to look at that scar on her chest, to analyze it and see how and what it was made from.

It was to his horror that the light brown scar made its way all the way down to her hip. It cut through the cleavage, and off the side of her right hip. Who and what could have possibly done that to Marisa? It disturbed him.

And that was all he saw of her body. No matter how tempting… He managed to resist himself.

Joshua knew he had to get up, he groaned as he got out of his bed and changed. He opened the door, ready to sprint down the hallway to avoid Marisa if she showed up.

Coincidentally, Marisa had just gotten out of her bedroom the same time Joshua had.

Joshua could only stare wide eyed at Marisa, hoping that she didn't notice him as she closed her door.

"Oh. Good morning, Joshua." She said, her tone emotionless.

_Oh crap._

"How are you today?" She asked.

Joshua was stunned. He had expected to feel the wrath of the woman's fury, but instead, she asked him how he was. That was another surprise; her asking of his well-being.

"Um, good. How about you?" He tried to keep his tone calm. He was afraid she would spring an unsuspected beating or some sort.

"Good. …I guess I'll see you when we spar." She said and she walked off.

Joshua held his breath as he watched her walk off. When she turned to the stairs, he let out a deep exhale.

_Maybe she forgot what happened last night…_

Shrugging it off, he headed to the study room to work on his speech that he was supposed to give in a week.

He sat in the big leather chair with his leg sprawled across the desk.

_Ladies and Gentlemen of the town… No, too cheesy. _

Joshua raised the quail to his chin and let it tickle him as he thought. He couldn't think of anything or more rather, he didn't want to think of anything.

_I need some thinking food. _

Joshua kicked his legs over the dress and jogged down to the kitchen. He remembered of the basket of apples Tethys and Gerik gave him not too long ago. The chefs had placed the basket on the table in the kitchen. They were still red and fresh, so he grabbed the whole basket and walked back to the study room.

As he munched an apple, with the basket in his other hand he walked by the garden. He heard yelling and the clanging of weapons. He wondered if they were being ambushed.

He looked out from the entrance, and only saw Marisa swinging her sword to 5 guards. She was beating them no doubt. He watched as she danced with her sword to the terrified guards.

There was something about her fighting style that always amused him. Like his mother, she was graceful with the sword. He couldn't take his eyes off of her, it was as if it were a dance.

Moments later, all 5 guards were on the ground.

"Hah!" shouted Marisa triumphantly. The guards groaned as they got up.

Joshua smiled at the victorious Marisa, even though she didn't see him. But he couldn't help but notice the sly look on her face. A devious grin, as if she were planning something evil.

Joshua gulped. Was she planning on cutting him down at their spar? He didn't want to think about it. But that was all he could think about when he got back to the study room.

Sooner than he had hoped for, sunset came. The room filled with the orange glow from the sun.

_Well, it's time to meet Marisa… And possibly death. _

Joshua shook his head.

_No way would she kill me, the King of Jehanna. The worse thing she could possibly do to me is…_

He didn't know what to think.

When he arrived to the garden, Marisa was already waiting there.

"Hi Marisa." Joshua said. He realized how nervous he had sound, then cleared his throat.

"Joshua. Are you ready?" She took out her sword.

Joshua simply nodded as she took out his.

The tip of the swords met as the two paced in circle, waiting for one to strike.

Marisa decided to strike first. She was like a purple blur that lurched at him Joshua dodged her attacks, but her attacks were fast. It left him with no time to recuperate. He saw no opening to strike and continued to dodge her lethal strikes.

Finally, Joshua found an opening, he stroke his sword to Marisa. She easily blocked it with her blade.

_Drat. She must have spent all day training. _

Marisa then counter-attacked with a swift move towards his neck. Joshua quickly stumbled backwards, barely missing the blade to his throat. As he stumbled backwards, he fell onto his bottom.

"Ow!" Whimpered Joshua. He looked up to see Marisa's sword pointed at him.

"You lost." She said, then retrieved her sword back into its sheath.

"Heh. If I didn't know any better, I would have thought you were trying to kill me."

Marisa didn't say anything, put instead held a hand out to help Joshua up.

Joshua gulped. _I guess she was…_

Joshua quickly got back up on his feet.

"Alright, I won." Marisa had her arms crossed and a smirk on her face.

_Uh oh…That can't be good. _

"Ah, yeah. So what do you want?" Joshua felt regretful for ever asking.

Marisa didn't say anything, but stared at him.

Then finally, "I want to see you naked." Her face was stilled. Was she serious? Joshua couldn't help but laugh.

"You, what? Hahaha!" He held his arm around his stomach.

He guessed it was because he had seen her naked, well, not entirely, that now she wanted to see his.

"I want to see you naked." She said after he calmed down.

"Ahh… Okay then, but I'll have you know, I ain't afraid to show my body to any woman." He said as he smirked.

"Great. Take it off." Marisa simply said.

"What? Right now? But there's people around…" He looked nervously at the two guards that were standing by the entrance.

"I don't care. You saw me naked. It's only fair I see you naked. Now take it off." Marisa demanded. For some reason, Marisa demanding him to strip his clothes turned him on.

"First: I didn't see you naked. And second: shouldn't we do this… More private?"

"No. Why so shy? They're your guards, you shouldn't hide anything from them. In fact…"

"Marisa, I don't think you know what you're talking about…"

"Brandon!" Marisa called over to one of the guards at the entrance. "Gather everyone here, we're going to have a brief meeting."

"What are you doing?" Joshua hissed. And why were they taking orders from her? Marisa continued to stand her ground as she continued smirking.

Seconds later, a crowd of the castle's guards grouped by the entrance.

"So? Take 'em off. Or are you going to back off? That's not like you, Joshua." Marisa taunted.

Joshua bit his lip. He never backed out of a bet, and having to show his naked body to a crowd wasn't going to prevent him from doing that. He didn't want to give him to Marisa's satisfaction, he wanted to wipe that smirk right off her face.

"Fine." Joshua smiled back as he unzipped his pants.

The crowd murmured at what the King was doing.

And no sooner than later, Joshua was nude. He turned to the guards, with a grin on his face and his hands on his hips.

"Marisa suggested that I show you guys that I'm not hiding anything. So… see for yourself!" He recognized one familiar face amongst the crowd. It was Cormag, and he had a shocked expression on his face, as did many of the guards. Joshua simply shrugged as giggles and laughter filled the garden.

"All hail King Joshua!" Shouted one man. Then rest of the men began chanting.

It was to his surprise when he heard giggling behind him. It was a female's voice.

_Is Marisa actually… Laughing?_

He turned around to face her. Her hand was to her mouth to suppress the laughter, but she couldn't take it anymore and threw her head back. Her eyes squinted from the laughing, her lips curled upwards and her mouth was open, revealing her perfect aligned row of white teeth.

Joshua raised an eyebrow. He was intrigued that the emotionless swordfighter was laughing and smiling. What he was more intrigued though, was how pretty and soft her smile was.

"Haha! O-okay. You can put your clothes back on." Marisa said, still letting out a couple laughs.

Joshua quickly put back clothes as the crowd of men dispersed back to their post. As he dressed himself, he noticed Marisa was still stifling a few laughs.

"I take it that you enjoyed that?" Joshua asked as he buttoned his shirt up.

"Hmm… Yeah, I did." Marisa cleared her throat, her face was motioning back to its usual stilled expression.

"Honestly, I never knew you thought that way." Joshua grinned.

"What way? I simply wanted to get back at you for last night."

"You said you enjoyed it, don't lie." He teased.

"I was enjoying the humor of it."

"But you liked what you saw, didn't you?" Joshua figured he would turn the tables on her.

"Actually..." Marisa began, "I was very impressed." Then she walked away. He put his hat on as he watched her walk away. He noticed how slyly she had said that.

_Huh… Interesting. _

* * *

**A/N: **Ohoho, yes, I've turned this into one little kinky game of lo0o0o0vee. lol. Um... Yes. Hope you've enjoyed this chapter. :)


	7. Chapter 7

**Random A/N: **I've noticed that the Marisa's POV chapters are longer than Joshua's… I guess it's cause I relate to her more cause I'm an antisocial girl like her. Jk, I'm not… THAT antisocial.

**Disclaimer: I don't own Fire Emblem.**

Enjoy!

**Chapter 7**

* * *

_What should I do next? I'll make him wear that pink dress. …Yes, he should wear it when he gives that speech next week._

Marisa was having too much fun planning out what her prize would be if she won their daily spar again. The result from last night was uproarious. She couldn't remember ever laughing that hard at anything (or even laughing at all).

Her conscience told her that she may be having a little too much fun, but she couldn't just let anyone, especially Joshua, take advantage of her the way he had the night they arrived home from the wedding.

_I'll teach that jerk._ Last night was just the beginning of her torturing.

The whole day was unintentionally dedicated to plot against Joshua. She hadn't realize of her doing until one of the guards she was training with commented on how deep in thought she was in.

This was an embarrassing disruption of her. Never had she ever thought so long about something so unimportant to her. Perhaps she was taking this out of hand.

That's when she came to a startling conclusion. What if Joshua had planned something to get back at her for making him reveal his nude body to everyone in the castle? Without a doubt, Joshua probably had something twice as worst then what she had done to him. Would he dare make her strip in front of the castle? Paranoia swept over her, although she kept her cool in front of the guards. She refused to let herself be fearful over something so silly. But at the same time, she couldn't let the red-haired King win.

Then, she continued to fight quite ruthlessly with the guards. She could see their distraught every time she stroke her sword towards them. She needed to train so that it would be a guarantee that she would win today's match.

Sunset came, and Marisa hurriedly paced herself towards the garden. Opposite from her down the hallway, she saw Joshua making his way to the Garden. She stared at the slim man as his boots thumped every time it hit the stone floors.

She could feel his crimson eyes stare into her eyes as the two got nearer.

They finally reached the garden where the two stood by the entrance, and continue to stare into each other's faces.

"Joshua." Marisa addressed coolly

"Marisa." Joshua replied in the same manner.

It was as if both were having an intense staring contest game. For Marisa, it felt awkward. But she continued to stare to respond Joshua's seemingly threatening eyes.

"Shall we?" Joshua finally said, and thank goodness. Marisa couldn't take any more of the staring.

She walked into the garden first. She could hear Joshua's boots pounding onto the floor behind her.

She turned around and unsheathed her sword, Joshua doing the same. She wanted to know what he had planned for her without her having to lose the spar. But she couldn't bring herself to simply ask him.

Joshua made the first unsuspecting move. She was quick to dodge his fast slashes at her. She noticed how quickly and fiercely he swung his sword at her. He was eager and desperate. She knew how badly he wanted to win, just like she did.

Her sword was up and ready, ready to strike at any opening. But Joshua was smart to keep his distance from her. His body was like elastic, his long arm reaching over with his blade at hand. She had no chance at striking.

Joshua jabbed his sword forward at her, she dodged to the left. She saw his body was falling towards her from having to miss the target. She saw this as an opportunity to approach him from behind.

As she did, she felt the warmth of his hand tightly grip her sword hand.

Marisa gasped at the impact and dropped her sword. And in one quick move, Joshua had twirled her body into his body. His arm held her back against his chest to prevent her from escaping as he held onto her wrist and his other hand with the sword to her throat.

Her body motioned with the rise and fall of Joshua's chest as he breathed heavily and she felt his hot breath against the back of her head. She felt his heart beat against her back. Strangely as it seemed, she felt her heart beat in unison with his. Her body was held closely to his, just like at the wedding.

She shook her head of such thoughts.

_Damn it. He tricked me. _

After Joshua caught his breath, he twirled Marisa once more to release her. She picked up her sword and then faced him, fearing for the worse.

"What… What do want?" She tried to keep her tone calm.

She looked up at Joshua's face, expecting to see his famous mischievous grin, but instead, his face was motionless.

_What is he thinking?_

She waited for a response from him, but he only continued to stare. Marisa felt uncomfortable under the watchful eyes of Joshua.

"If you don't have anything…" She began, full of hope.

"Oh, I have something." Joshua said confidently.

She waited for unfortunate loss, but Joshua continued to stare at her.

"What is it?" She said irritably. Her patience was wearing out.

Joshua took a couple of steps towards her, so that he was inches away from her.

"Wha-What are you doing?" She lowered her voice as he got closer. Joshua placed a finger and his thumb under her chin, and lifted her face upward to his.

"I want to kiss you." He said softly.

She heard a small gasp escape from her lips. She stepped back, away from him.

"You can't be serious. Is this your way of getting back at me? That's pathetic." She scoffed. Was this truly his way of getting back at her? What would a kiss do? Besides shred her dignity.

"I'm not getting back at ya." Joshua said simply. His face was still motionless.

The skeptical look worn on her face subsided as she saw he was serious.

Marisa cleared her throat. "Why?" She asked.

"Why not? When two people are attracted to each other… They should embrace each other." Joshua slowly walked towards her as she slowly backed up.

"Attracted? I-I'm not attracted to anybody! And neither are you!" She didn't understand why he had suggested there was such thing going on between the two.

"Don't deny it." He assured soothingly.

Marisa thought back to the night before, when she had seen him naked. Perhaps he got the idea when she said she was impressed with his body. She was merely teasing him. Although… She did like what she saw.

"I'm not denying anything!" She squeaked. The shrill of her voice surprised her.

"So you're saying…" Joshua began. he crossed his arms across his chest, with one hand to his chin.

"You're saying that you don't feel this burning sensation between us? A special connection? A powerful force that pulls us together? What about the urge of lust? None of that?"

_What is he saying?_

Marisa shook her head in disagreement as she slowly back away from Joshua's inching steps.

"That's too bad." He said.

And surely enough, Marisa had found herself backed up into one of the garden's wall. She was done for.

Marisa knew her sword was by her side. She could hold out her sword to him to prevent him from getting any closer.

_Take it out, fool!_

But she couldn't. She found herself numb, paralyzed… But from what? Joshua's sudden burst of words? She didn't know.

Joshua again, tilted her head upwards to face his.

"That's too bad, because that's how I feel about you." He said softly, then moved in closer.

Marisa figured she could only embrace accept what was coming at her, no matter how much she detested it. She shut her eyes tightly and loosened her lips.

She waited.

She felt nothing on her lips. Had it already happened?

She opened her eyes.

Anger toiled within her when she saw a laughing Joshua nearly crouched to the ground.

"HAHA!" Joshua was now rolling on the ground, his arms to his stomach.

He continued to cackle as Marisa turned her numbed hands into a tight fist. How dare he? How dare he mess about with her feelings? As if it were a ragged doll, he could freely pull on the strands of its hair and its legs.

"YOU-! YOUR FACE! OH MY GOODNESS!" Marisa couldn't make out his words from all his laughter. But she didn't care, all she wanted to do was cut the man in half.

She couldn't take any more of the King's guffawing, then lurched at him with her clenched fists.

She wanted a clean punch to his devilish face, but she couldn't do so because of how much he was moving. She sat on top of his torso, took his shoulders in both hands, and then began to harshly tremble him. He violently swung back and forth as Marisa thrashed him around. She didn't care if the two guards by the entrance saw what she was doing.

Despite the shaking, Joshua continued to laugh.

"You! You-!" Marisa couldn't find the right insult to call him. He was far much worse than a jerk. "You asshole! You bastard!" She screamed, and she continued to shout about all the profanities she could think of.

Finally, he calmed down, but was still laughing. He vibrated underneath her from his laughing. She had a clear shot of his smiling face.

She raised her left first, tightly clenched. She was about to bring it down onto his left cheek, when a guard shouted something.

"King Joshua! Lady Marisol has just arrived!" The guard announced. They were not too far, she could hear their running footstep echo in the hallway.

"Oh! Woo-hoo…" Joshua let out the last of his chuckle, as he wiped away a tear from his right eye. He sat up, pushing Marisa off of him. The two got up. She glared angrily as Joshua redeemed himself from the laughing fit.

"Pathetic? I think I got you good." He said. His eyes were still glossy from his tears of laughter.

"I _hate _you." Marisa said bitterly.

"Ouch." Joshua held his hands to his left chest as he made a pained face.

"King Joshua!" The guard announced again. He stood at the entrance. "Lady Marisol is here!"

"Alright!" Joshua called back. He was still facing Marisa. "I have to tell ya, it was hard trying to keep a straight face."

"I'll make that straight face a bruised one." Marisa countered.

Joshua didn't react to this, instead, a smirk grew to his face. "But the hardest part was actually to restrain myself from actually kissing you." And with that, he left before Marisa could say anything back.

_Was that part of his joke?_

Marisa stood in her place. Anger was still boiling within her. It slowly subsided and was overwhelmed with another emotion as her clenched fists slowly released itself.

_What a tease._ She thought herself as the dark night grew around her.

* * *

**A/N: **Ohohoho! Who's this Lady Marisol? Well, you'll just have to read to find out! :) hope you've enjoyed this chapter.


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I don't own Fire Emblem.**

Enjoy!

**Chapter 8**

* * *

Joshua woke up the next day, smiling with glee. Before he fell asleep last night, he had replayed the scene over and over again in his head. Marisa's embarrassed expression made him snicker aloud. Although he was alone in his bedroom, he had to look around to see no one was watching him as he laugh to himself, for that they might have thought he was insane.

His plan had gone out perfectly. Although Marisa had publicly humiliated him, he thought it was too harsh to do the same to her, being antisocial as she was. So he conspired up his plan to 'make a move' on her.

What if his plan had gone onto a different route? This crossed his mind a few times. If Marisa had returned his "burning desired" feelings… His plan would've worked out either way.

Joshua had expected Marisa to put up more of a fight, literally. Thank goodness that guard came just in time. But she stood there and did nothing as his lips got closer and closer to her's. Perhaps she did feel that way about him.

A knock to his door broke him off of his train of thoughts.

"King Joshua, it is time to commence your studies." Said a guard.

He had almost forgotten of his guest. Lady Marisol. At Ephraim and L'Arachel's wedding, both Innes and Ephraim recommended a Royal adviser to help him become a better King. The two princes had worked with Lady Marisol and highly praised her for her work.

If Joshua was going to country on his own, he believed he would need all the help he could get. He had noticed that Ephraim appeared a bit more matured last he saw him at the wedding.

Joshua had to admit, having another female presence in the castle would be interesting, but after talking to her, he quickly changed his mind.

It wasn't her long curly orange hair that proved her to be intimidating or her pretty defined face. It was the way she shouted and demanded orders while stomping those heavy dark boots of her.

_(Flashback to last night:)_

"Ah, Lady Marisol I presume?" Joshua asked he held his hand out to shake her hand.

"Yes I am, King Joshua. And please call me Marisol." She said as she gripped Joshua's hand and firmly shook it.

"And call me Joshua." He was a bit stunned at how tight her grip was, but he smiled at her.

"That won't do." She said sternly as she quickly let go of Joshua's hand.

"Uh… What?"

"You cannot let people call you informality. If you're so relaxed all the time, you let your guard down. Show some authority."

Joshua thought she was kidding, but by the look of her serious face, she was not.

"Umm, okay." Joshua scratched behind his ear nervously. He was not used to having a woman take control of him so easily. Usually, it was the other way around.

"I see we have a lot to work on." She put her hands on her hips, which was covered with different colored robes. Telling from her clothes, she was a sage.

"Show me around the castle. Tell me your daily schedule." She marched on through the hall, Joshua quickly followed. Her heavy black boots made a loud thump every time she stepped.

"Well, I usually wake up. Uh, at sunrise." He lied. "And I get to work; I tend to the townspeople complaints, paperwork, documents, the such." He was wondering if he should tell her about his daily spar with Marisa. He figured it wouldn't hurt. "And at the end of the day, I do a little sparring, to keep my sword skill ready."

Marisol stopped. She turned around to face Joshua. He gulped as she looked at him with a hard expression.

"That won't do. No more sparring. From now on, it's work all day, everyday."

"But-."

"Don't worry. I'm having an old friend of mine come in sometime this week. He used to train armies of royal palaces across this continent. He will have your men in tip top shape so you don't have to fight anymore." She shot a smile before she continued walking.

_Why did she just smile at me?_

She had a nice smile, but something about it made him shiver.

Joshua nervously watched as Marisol stomped her way through the hall. She was intimidating and scary. And he thought Marisa was just as bad.

_Great, it's going to be like having another Marisa around… _It also just happened their names were distinctly similar to each other.

He couldn't spar with Marisa anymore. He thought if he should tell her or not, but from what he pulled on her last night, she would still be angry. He figured that Marisol would be here only until Joshua learned everything that was needed to be a proper King, and that shouldn't be too long.

He would leave Marisa alone so she could cool off for a couple of days while he worked with Marisol.

What he didn't know was how long it would be before he saw Marisa.

* * *

_(Several days later:)_

Marisa was still angry. Even after several days had passed since the incident, the scene never left her head. Even though she haven't seen Joshua for days, she still saw his face grinning at her. Even though what she did to him was twice as bad, she was still embarrassed.

Marisa knew that Joshua was busier than usual, now that he was working with this "Lady Marisol" person. Marisa didn't mind that he had skipped out on their spars, it was better that he avoided her since she was still furious. Marisa's never seen Lady Marisol, but from what the guards have said about her, they made her sound like a Queen.

"Have you seen Lady Marisol?"

"Yeah, she's smart and beautiful!"

"I'm just glad to finally have a female presence in castle."

The poor guard who had said that met the fury of Marisa's sword. It wasn't jealousy that pented her up, it was the fact that they didn't acknowledge her even though she trained them almost everyday. It made her question what she was to them.

"King Joshua's been busy with Lady Marisol not for business reasons, if ya know what I mean." Said one guard to another. He, too, had met blazing fury of Marisa's sword, although it was unintentional, anger mounted up within her.

She had wondered what the two were truly doing. Joshua had secluded himself from her, and possibly the rest of the castle for almost a week now. And why hadn't she seen Lady Marisol after all these days?

After a long day of training with the castle's guard, Marisa headed to her room. As she entered the hallway to her room, an unfamiliar figure approached from down the hallway.

It was a woman, dressed in long different colored robes. Her hair was orange and curly, and bounced every time she stepped. Her stance reeked of confidence and intimidation; back held straight, shoulder pinned back and her head held up high. If that wasn't daunting enough, her calf-high black boots pounded loudly as she walked. She looked like she was no more over the age of 25 or so.

Marisa was the only female in the castle, so this woman had to be the infamous Lady Marisol.

"Hi there!" The woman chirped.

Marisa didn't say anything and continued to stare at her.

"I've haven't seen you around, are you from the town?" She asked.

"No. I live in the castle." Marisa said.

"Really? What's your business in the castle?"

"I…" Marisa thought about it, she didn't know what to say. She was a friend of Joshua? His sparring partner? Then she remembered that she trained the guards.

"I train the guards." She said coolly.

"Really? You?" She sounded disgusted. "Well, you don't have to do that anymore, one of the top Generals of this continent is coming in tomorrow."

Marisa already didn't like this woman.

"But-"

"You can stand in the back or something and observe. Maybe you can learn a thing or two from him." Then she walked off, her boots continued to pound the ground as she headed down the stairs.

Marisa sighed gallingly. She saw Lady Marisol come out of the door at the other end of the hallway. Marisa immediately recognized it as the study room. Could Joshua be in there?

She was curious to see what Joshua have been up to, and why he had been so busy. She found herself standing in front of the room. She put all her rage to the side as she raised her hand to the door.

_But what could I say to him? 'Hello' would be a good starter… _

She stood there for a long time thinking of what she should say to Joshua. It had been a long time since she had seen or spoke to him

To her surprise, the door opened, and out came Joshua. She was stunned to see him, not because of their long absence from each other, but because of his appearance.

His face wore a sickly pale color, even his lips were white and there were dark eye bags underneath his eyes. He looked like a corpse.

"Oh, hi Marisa." Joshua greeted as he closed the door behind him. They were now standing in the hallway together.

"Joshua… Are you okay?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" He sounded fine.

"You look terrible."

"Huh? Oh, that's 'cause I haven't really slept in a while." He shot a weak smile at her.

"Get some sleep." She said. In her mind, she was face palming herself.

_Of course, state the obvious. _

"Hmm…" Joshua nodded to her then walked off. Marisa quickly followed after him.

_Why am I following him?_

Right. She wanted to find out what he had been up to, what made him so busy that he couldn't find time to sleep?

"Well, good night, Marisa." Joshua closed the door to his bedroom in front of her face.

Marisa had to process what had just happened. Had he really slammed the door to her face? It wasn't like Joshua to make small talk with her. As much as she hated it, he had always engaged with her in long conversations.

She was certain that after not seeing each other for a while, Joshua would be at least happy to see her. Just like she was when he opened the door…

* * *

**A/N: **d'aww, poor Marisa. Next chapter is going to be in Marisa's POV, because if you havent noticed, Joshua's acting a bit funky. Hope you've enjoyed reading.


	9. Chapter 9

Uh, these chapters are much lesser than the others. That is all.

**Disclaimer: I don't own Fire Emblem**

Enjoy!

**Chapter 9**

* * *

Marisa didn't know why it bothered her so much, she didn't sleep one bit last night. She had come to several conclusions that Joshua was exhausted to talk to her, he said he hadn't slept in a while, so that must be it. Or perhaps he found a new companionship with Lady Marisol, he didn't care about her anymore.

As she got up from her bed, she tried her very best to discard such thoughts.

_It's nothing…_

She got dressed and headed out the door. She had no where to go. Joshua didn't have time for her (or perhaps he didn't care for her), and she couldn't go train the guards.

She thought she should to check out who this new general that was so great.

She headed down the stairs, to the ball room.

"Why, hello there." Said a voice. Marisa looked up to see a man.

He had a rugged face, stubbles all around the bottom of his face, his dark brown hair was slicked upwards. He wore a green leather jacket rolled up to his elbow. She could the outline of his muscles against the jacket. Although not as big as Gerik's, it was bigger than Joshua's skinny arms. He wore black pants and brown boots. He was very handsome. In a way, he reminded her of Gerik. Possibly because of his rugged looks and muscles.

"Do you happen to know where the ball room is?" He asked.

Marisa nodded. "I'm going there right now."

"Great! Then I shall follow you." He gave her a smile. It was nice, it made his face look delicate across his face.

Marisa blushed as she led the way, he followed behind at a safe distance.

"By the way, I'm Duncan, the new general. What's your name?"

"Marisa." She said blandly. She was a tad upset that Marisol had replaced her position with someone else, although it wasn't officially her position.

"Marisa… That's a nice name for someone so beautiful."

She was glad he was behind her, so he couldn't see her flustered face.

"Here's the ballroom." There were already a crowd of men standing around.

"Ah, thank you, Marisa. Would you like to join us?" He asked. She looked at him and saw he was looking at her sword by her side.

"You're a fighter aren't you?"

"Yes… But no, I won't join you." As much as she tried to discard her thoughts of Joshua, she couldn't. Feelings of anger, disappointment and grief boiled up inside of her. She wanted to be left alone.

Duncan frowned. "You sure?"

Marisa nodded.

"All right, if you don't come in today, tomorrow then." He smiled.

Marisa didn't know what to say, she didn't want to, but she had nothing better to do.

"I'll see you tomorrow." Duncan said as he winked at her, then headed into the ballroom.

Perhaps this wouldn't be so bad after all.

* * *

**A/N: **Hmm, new love interest? I dunno, you'll just have to see for yourself!


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: I don't own Fire Emblem.**

Enjoy!

**Chapter 10**

* * *

_(The next day:)_

"You're pretty good, Marisa." Duncan commented as he panted.

"You too." Marisa replied as she too, panted.

The two had sparred with each other after Duncan had trained with the guards and Marisa had observed from the back.

Marisa was proud that she won. After all, she had just defeated "one of the greatest generals on the continent".

After the two caught their breath, they went to sit out in the garden, under the moonlight.

"Where did you learn to fight like that?" Duncan asked.

"My father." She looked up to the moon. It had been a long time since her father's death, but she still thought fondly of him. Without him, she wouldn't be the great swordfighter everyone claimed her to be.

"He must have been a great swordsman."

"He was." When she traveled with him as a child, she saw many men challenge him, and he won all the battles against them. She wanted be just like him.

"Argh…" Groaned Duncan as he cranked his neck to the side. "That was one hell of a spar." He rubbed the side of the neck.

"Sorry."

"For what? That was the best one I've had in months." He turned his head to smile at her.

It was good to spar with someone, even though Duncan was not as swift or fast as Joshua, her thirst for some sort of sword training had been satisfied.

"Duncan. I've been wondering where you were." The two turned around and Lady Marisol stood there, her arms crossed.

"Ah, Marisol." Duncan got up and walked over to her.

"I have to speak to you… Privately." She said in a low hushed tone, but Marisa could still hear her. She silently watched the two as they conversed.

"Okay." Duncan turned back to look at Marisa. "I'll see you tomorrow." And off the two went.

"…"

_(The next day:)_

After she ate some bread and an apple for breakfast, Marisa headed to the ballroom, where Duncan had another training session with the guards.

She entered the room and was surprised to see the men lined up silently in rows. Their backs were to her as they stood. Usually they were in small groups, talking amongst each other. What was going on?

She decided to go up to the nearest guard to her.

"What's going on?" She asked as she went up to the man.

The man didn't reply her, so she walked to the side of him to look at him. She was shocked to see the paleness of the man's face, and the dark, almost black, circles underneath his eyes. He looked like Joshua last she saw him.

Marisa didn't say anything, but backed off. She turned around to look if similar symptoms were on the rest of the other men. Surely enough, they were. They were all sickly white. They seemed to not take notice of Marisa as she went up from men to men to observe their faces. They stood with a dazed look, staring off to unknown space.

_What's going on here?_

She quickly ran out of the room, and bumped into someone.

"Cormag!"

"Hey, Marisa. Where are you off to in a hurry?" He asked. She took him by the shoulders and stared at his face. He wasn't sickly white like the rest of the men; his skin was still golden tanned.

"Uh, what are you doing?" He asked, clearly uncomfortable and the physical contact.

"Cormag. The men in there. They don't look right." She said as she let go of him.

"What do you mean?" He walked into the ballroom as Marisa followed behind. She watched as Cormag went from man to man, shaking them by the shoulders, but no luck. They continued to stand in place.

"What the…?" Cormag ran a hand through his blonde hair.

"They weren't like this yesterday." Marisa said. "We have to tell Joshua." She began to turn on the heel of her boot when she was face to face with Duncan.

"Hm, weird. You two seem unaffected by the spell." Duncan said.

"What did you do?" Cormag said angrily. Marisa backed off to keep a distance from the man.

"I think the question is what did I _not_ do to you guys. Especially with you, Marisa." He wore a devious smile on face, not like the delicate one from before, this one made her shudder.

"What… What are you?" Marisa asked. What happened to the nice Duncan she met days ago?

"I'm still the same Duncan as before, baby. But unfortunately, I may just have to kill you." He took out his sword.

Marisa took out her sword as Cormag, with no weapon went to one guard and took his sword.

Duncan started to walk slowly towards them, with his sword by his side. Halfway, he stopped.

"Actually… Let's see you go against your comrades. Men! Attack these two!" He shouted. And like a pack of dogs, every single men in the ballroom unsheathed their swords, lances and axes, and lurched towards the two.

"Damn it! We… Can't kill them." Cormag said as he kicked one man down.

Cormag was right. Even if they were being controlled by Duncan, they were still their comrades and friends, they couldn't kill them. Marisa put her sword away and began kicking the approaching men away. In no time, they were surrounded.

There was no doubt in her mind that this was the end for her and Cormag.

* * *

**A/N: **DUN DUN DUN. Oh btw, I was trying to describe Duncan as Lloyd from FE7. Meh, seemed fitting... I guess. Dunno why, but I find Llyod hot haha. Anyways, hope you enjoyed this!


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: I don't own Fire Emblem.**

Enjoy!

**Chapter 11**

* * *

Marisa was in an unfamiliar setting. Her body ached from lying on the cold hard ground. Her right arm was sore from lying on top of it. Her head hurted the most, she used her left arm to reach up to feel her head for the damage. She winced as her fingers made contact to the side of her head. She looked at her fingers, there was a smidge of blood on it. She looked down to see if her sword was with her, but it was gone.

"Marisa!" Shouted a voice.

Marisa groaned as she sat herself up. She looked around the place. She was in a small empty room, with stoned walls, except one wall was barred. She knew she was in some cell. Across from her cell, was Cormag, in another cell. He stood up, clutching the bars as he looked at Marisa with concern.

"What happened?" Marisa asked as she held her head where the pain was.

"We were surrounded. The bastard Duncan smacked you in the head with the hilt of his sword. And I was taken by force."

Right, she forgot what had happened.

"We're lucky we're still alive. I don't know what he has planned for us…" Cormag said, his voice trailing off at the last few words.

"Where are we?" Marisa asked. She had a lot of questions.

"Apparently, the prison of the castle."

Marisa didn't know the castle even had a prison. She went up to the bars to look around. From what she could see, to Cormag's left were 2 more cells. And on his right was nothing, but a torch that hung on the wall.

"How long were we in here?" She asked.

"Not too long. I'm not sure if night time. There's no windows." Cormag sighed as he sat down.

"You okay?"

"Me? I'm fine, but are you okay? He hit you pretty hard."

She was slightly okay, her head pounded every time she moved, but she nodded at Cormag. Bad idea, the shaking of her head worsened the pain. She sat down slowly, hoping that maybe a little rest will subdue the pain.

She leaned against the wall, with her legs outstretched in front of her.

A million questions were going through her head. What was going on? Who truly was Duncan? What was going to happen to Joshua? Was Lady Marisol in on the plan? She probably was, she remembered them leaving to have their private talk. She wasn't sure if Cormag had an answer to her questions.

"Do you…. Have any idea what's going on?" Marisa asked.

"No… I've been on border patrol duty the last few days… Damn it, I should've stayed. I probably would've prevented this from happening." Marisa heard him punch the ground. He was frustrated. But Marisa was even more frustrated. She was in the castle when Duncan and Marisol arrived. She saw Joshua act weird in front of her, why didn't she do anything?

"Marisa." Cormag's tone was serious. She looked at him.

"I saw Joshua as we were being dragged away."

Marisa stayed silent so he could continue talking.

"He looks eerily similar to Prince Lyon before he got possessed by the Demon King."

Marisa's eyes widened. She was speechless. Could the Demon King be back? No, she helped seal the beast's soul alongside with many the many strong people of Magvel.

"But he's dead." Marisa managed to say.

"Yeah, I know." Cormag slid over to lean against the wall.

Marisa sighed heavily. What could she do? She was stuck in a cell. She reached up to touch her wound on her head, but her fingers found something else. It was a bobby pin that she wore to keep stray hair out of her face. She quickly took it out. She rolled it in between her fingers as she thought back to the Sacred Stones war.

_(Flashback:)_

"_What are you doing?" Marisa asked as she crept up behind Colm. He was bent over to a treasure chest. _

"_Oh! Marisa, don't scare me like that. Come." He ushered her to come beside him. She looked around to see if any enemy was near, but saw none so she crouched beside him. _

"_I'm trying to open this chest. There could some valuables useful to the army." He said as he fumbled with a long piece of wire. He bent it into a loop and stuck it into the keyhole. He wiggeld it in his fingers, but the chest wouldn't open up. _

"_Damn it." Colm hissed as he took the wire out. "Hey, you got any hair pins or anything like that?" _

_She stared at him then remembered that she did have several in her hair. She reached up and took one out of her hair. "Like this?"_

"_Yes!" Colm said happily as he took it out and opened them up so they were about an inch apart. _

_She watched as he stuck it in and furiously wiggled it about in the keyhole. After some time, there was a click. _

"_Voila!" Colm exclaimed as he kicked the chest open, revealing plenty of gold coins. _

If she remembered correctly, she could mimic Colm's lock picking. She opened the pin apart, about an inch apart.

She stood up and used her hand to feel for where the keyhole to her cell was. She found it.

But how was she going to lock pick it if she couldn't see it?

"What are you doing?" Cormag asked as he stood up. "Lock picking it? I didn't know you were a thief." Cormag joked. She ignored him as she stuck the pin in the hole.

_What did he do?_

She wiggled the two sticks in the hole, hoping she would hear a click. No click. She continued to wiggle the pin about, pushing the pin deeper and deeper until it couldn't anymore.

"That's it… I think you got it…" Cormag said as he watched her.

Then… Success! There was a click, and Marisa took out the pin and pushed the cell door outward.

She was proud of herself. She could now successfully pick a lock. She walked out and looked around the cell. There wasn't too much cells, there were 5 more on Cormag's side and 5 more on her side. To her left was the stairs to upstairs.

"Okay, my turn!" Cormag exclaimed. Marisa rushed over to his cell door and mimicked the same action as she did with her cell. There was a click and Cormag was free.

"Yes! Great job, Marisa! Now, let's go get that bastard." Marisa nodded in agreement and they ran up the stairs.

When they got to the top, there was a door. Cormag opened it slowly to look out.

"C'mon." Cormag whispered as he walked out. Marisa followed after him. She looked to see where the room was hidden and why she didn't notice it before. She saw that it was at the bottom of the west stairwell. That explained it, she never used the west stairway down before, for that her bedroom was nearest the the east stairwell.

"It's quiet." Cormag whispered. The two tiptoed their way through the hallway. They looked into the throne room, no one was there. They looked into the ball room, no was there. The castle seemed empty.

"Where are they?" Cormag asked.

Marisa did some calculations in her head. If she was correct, today was the day Joshua was too give a speech in town.

"The speech." Marisa said.

Cormag stared at her. "You're right. You don't think they'll do anything to the townspeople…?" Cormag asked.

She didn't want to think about it, a town filled with paled face walking corpses. She hoped not. But then again, what was really Duncan's plan?

"Let's hope not." She said. "Let's go."

"Right. We'll take my wyvern. The two ran down the hall to the corridor where the wyverns were kept. As they ran, she saw a familiar object on the floor of the ball room.

"Wait." Marisa called out. She walked over to it and immediately recognized it as her sword in its sheath. She picked it up and tied it around her waist. She was glad to have her sword back again.

The two made it to the wyverns. There wasn't very much wyvern riders, just Cormag and 6 more. How Cormag could distinguish which wyvern was his, she didn't know. They all looked the same.

"Good thing they're not under whatever spell the others are under." He climbed onto the creature, and then Marisa climbed on and sat down behind him. She wrapped her arms around his waist tightly. This felt much safer than having Joshua's arms be her "barrier".

The sun was still out, and as they flew, Marisa looked down at the empty desert to see if the Joshua and the others were making their way to town. Then she saw a large group different color moving. From how high she and Cormag was, they looked like ants. And they were heading back to the castle. Had Joshua already gave his speech? What happened to the townspeople? The two would have to check on them later, right now, their priority was Joshua and the other men.

"I think I see them." Marisa said as she pointed towards the large blotch.

Cormag gazed down. "It is them. So what's the plan?" He asked.

Marisa wasn't sure. She thought that if she killed Duncan, the guards and Joshua would go back to normal. But what if they didn't?

That was a risk she would have to take.

"We go kill Duncan. And possibly Lady Marisol." Marisa said.

"What about the others? And Joshua?" Cormag asked.

"Don't kill 'em."

"…Sounds like a plan." Cormag shouted for the wyvern to descend down.

They landed in front of the large group. From what Marisa saw, all 400 and plus men were gathered there. In the front was Marisol, Duncan, and a pale looking Joshua. He and the rest of the men wore an expressionless, almost dead expression on their face.

"You two!" Duncan said.

"I thought you said you took care of them." Marisol said sternly.

"Yeah, but with their power under our control, we would be invincible. Especially the girl." Duncan shot another one of his menacing grin at Marisa. Cormag and Marisa quickly climbed down and held out their weapons.

"What's going on here? What have you done with Joshua?" Cormag asked curtly.

"Meh, we might as well just tell you, since you're going to die." Duncan shrugged. "We have these idiots under our spell so that we can take over the castle of Jehanna. I mean what better castle to take over than this one? With a weak King in its ruling… It's perfect."

Marisa gritted her teeth together. Joshua was anything from weak. He was a splendid King… But at the same time, she was relieved that Joshua wasn't possessed by the Demon King.

"Someone from town probably saw something was wrong with Joshua and the men." Cormag said.

"Maybe." Marisol talked. "But it doesn't matter. I prepared a speech for Joshua to give. Everyone cheered for him despite his appearance." Smirked Marisol.

"But… If you're going to rule Jehanna, they're going to suspect what happened to Joshua." Cormag said.

"We'll just say that the King of Jehanna was foolish enough to go on a mission with a couple of guards to eliminate a group of Cyclops out in the desert. He was pretty hard headed. Took almost a week to get him completely under the spell." Marisol said.

The two didn't say anything.

"What I'd like to know is how did they not fall under the spell? It was your responsibility to take care of the guards." Marisol had a hard expression on her face.

"I guess I didn't spend enough time with the girl. And the boy, I've never seen him around." Duncan said. "If you hadn't barged in on our conversation that night, I would've had her in my grip. Literally."

Marisa shuddered at the thought. No way would she have climbed into bed with a man she just met.

"Shut up." Marisa said. "I don't care if you're the greatest general in Magvel. You're evil. And you're going to die." She was about to run towards him, but Duncan gave out a loud laugh. Marisa froze as she watched him guff. What was he laughing?

"Damn right I'm the greatest general around here! It's about time I get rewarded properly. What's a better reward than the King of Jehanna?"

"But what about you…?" Cormag asked.

"Hm." Scoffed Marisol, her arms were crossed. "I'm the same with Duncan, years and years of working with stuck up nobles, princes and princesses. I think I deserve to be Queen of Jehanna. Even though it is the scummiest country in Magvel."

"Well. We're gonna stop you." Cormag said.

"Hah! You and what army?" Marisol sneered. "In case you haven't got it through your dull heads, we have the army of Jehanna with us."

"We don't care." Marisa said as she charged toward the two.

"Men! Get the two! Cut them up!" Marisa heard Marisol shout. The 400+ men charged towards her, Joshua stayed limply by Marisol's side. She wasn't going to back down; she was just as willing to risk her life to save Joshua's.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N:** Thanks for the reviews guys! I really appreciate it :D Yeah, I know the whole two evil bad guy scene was kinda rushed, but I really wanted to upload the chapter. Still hope you enjoyed it!

**Disclaimer: I don't own Fire Emblem.**

Notice how I say 'enjoy' or 'hope you enjoy this' a lot? ... Well enjoy!**  
**

**Chapter 12**

* * *

Marisa was faced with the decision to kill the guards that were charging at her so she could get to Marisol and Duncan, or try her best to subtly pass by them, not injuring any of them.

A blast of strong wind answered for her. She shielded her face as the strong wind pushed the charging guards off their feet and into the sand.

After the wind had dispersed, Marisa looked around to see where the wind came from. There were men sprawled across the sands in front her.

"What was that?" Cormag exclaimed as he ran up to her.

"Marisa!" The shout was faint, but she looked past the distance and saw the familiar figures running towards her.

Ewan, Saleh, Gerik and Tethys were all running towards them. Marisol and Duncan looked at Marisa's direction. Marisa saw that the wind was from Saleh, as he had his tome out.

"Hm, got friends, huh?" Duncan asked.

Marisa was surprised that neither Duncan nor Marisol tried to attack the approaching 4 as they ran past them.

Marisa was relieved. She knew that her and Cormag alone couldn't handle killing Duncan and Marisol, not with the army of Jehanna charging at them.

"Marisa!" shouted Ewan. "And Cormag?"

"Heya, scamp." Cormag replied.

"Well, isn't this surprised, but no time for chit chat." Gerik said as he took out his huge blade.

"Why are you guys here?" Marisa asked.

"We noticed that Joshua was acting strange at the speech, and that you weren't there! We wanted to see what was up." Tethys said.

"I said no chit chat! Gerik sighed. "I was trying to make our entrance look cool." He joked.

"I told you people would suspect." Cormag said.

"Meh, the more the merrier." Grinned Duncan as he took his sword out.

"So I'll take the grinning fella." Gerik said as he held his sword by his side.

"I had heard that the great Lady Marisol is a wielder of magic. Let's see who the greater sage will be." Saleh said as he flipped a page in his tome.

"Surely you are, Master Saleh!" Exclaimed Ewan.

"Chief." Marisa said. "Let me fight Duncan." She wished she could cut down both Marisol and Duncan, but if it had to be one of them, she despised Duncan the most. She was actually starting to like him as a friend, untill he turned out to be a bad guy.

"Huh?" Gerik turn to look at her.

"How about I make it fair?" Marisol said as she glared at the group. She took out a staff out from underneath her robes. It was an object Marisa wasn't familiar with.

"Master Saleh, is that-?"

"Yes, it is." The group turned their heads to Saleh for him to explain. But Saleh didn't have to explain to them what they saw next.

After Marisol had chanted a few words and waved the staff around, Joshua's crimson eyes turned into a haze of black.

He was beserked.

"Oh no…" Marisa heard Tethys say.

Joshua took out the sword by his side and started to walk slowly towards them.

"Why did you have to berserk him? I thought he was already under you spell?" Cormag shouted.

"Yes, but I've enhanced this staff so whoever gets hit with it will have greatly enhanced strength, stamina, speed…" Marisol smirked.

Marisa stood in fear. She was sure the rest of the group were frightened as well. Joshua was already a deadly fighter, but with boosted stats, he was twice as dangerous.

Marisa gulped. "I… I will fight him." Marisa said as she walked towards Joshua.

"Marisa" Gerik said as he grabbed onto her shoulder. "Be careful. I got your back." She had thought he would say something along the lines of "Don't do it!" or "It's too dangerous!", like he always did before when she fought alongside with him. But that just reaffirmed her faith that he believed she could take Joshua on. She just hoped she could believe in herself as well.

Marisa nodded and walked towards the 'enhanced' Joshua.

Most of the guards had gotten up from getting hit with the strong wind, and a couple of them sprang towards Marisa. A huge fireball flew past her, inches away from her. It made the guards stumble backwards. She felt the hot intensity from the flame as she looked back to see who threw it, it was Ewan.

"Got your back, Marisa!" Ewan shouted.

"Ewan, you're supposed to _not _injure them." She heard Cormag say. Marisa glanced to the side and saw that Gerik and Saleh were getting ready to fight their opponents, while Tethys stood back.

Joshua was now a few feet away from her. Her heart beated rapidly as she got closer to him. She never had to face a berserked person before. But to what she knew, the person who was berserk would return to normal after some time. Since Marisol claimed she enhanced the staff, who knew how long Joshua was going to be like this?

Now that they were closer, Joshua ran towards her. Marisa was caught off guard by how quickly he moved.

Joshua threw a quick slash at her to the side, Marisa blocked it with her blade. She groaned as the force made her seep into the sands. Her arm trembled against the burly strength. She pushed his sword off, Joshua countered with another strike, leaving no time for Marisa to prepare.

She blocked another one of his fast strikes, again this resulted in her foothold seeping into the sands. She grunted as she tried to hold his sword away from her, but he leaned in. She stared into his dead eyes.

_Does he truly have no control over himself?_

She saw a flicker of light above them, she knew it was a lighting bolt ready to hit. She grabbed Joshua by the collar of his shirt and threw him out of the way. The lightning bolt just barely missed them as the two tumbled into the sands.

Marisa looked up at Ewan.

"S-Sorry!" He shouted. Marisa looked over to see where Joshua had landed and saw that was standing in front her, his sword above him as he was ready to bring down on Marisa's head.

"Whoa!" She rolled away from him, and stood up quickly. Joshua brought his sword up from the missed target then lurched at her.

"Joshua." Marisa said as she dodged one of his attacks. She thought that maybe she could maybe snap him out of his trance by talking to him.

"I know you can hear me." She dodged another one of his deadly strikes. From where she was positioned, she saw Gerik fighting with Duncan. It seemed that the two were evenly matched. She also saw Saleh throw flames after flames at Marisol, but Marisol blocked with some ice magic.

She almost lost her concentration when she felt the cold metal whiz by her right arm. She quickly looked down at her arm as saw that the cut wasn't too big, but it was big enough for blood to bleed out. She looked back up at him. Still, the dead expression was worn on his face.

Talking to him wasn't working, so she thought that if she somehow disarmed him, her chance of death would lessen greatly. Without his sword, how could he kill her?

She barely dodged most of his strikes, she could feel the whip of wind on her skin from Joshua's strikes. She waited for an opportunity for her to block one of his attack, then she could flick the sword out of his hand.

She finally blocked another of his attacks. He pushed his immense strength on his blade. Marisa had to use all her strength to push back, but she sunk deeper and deeper into the sand.

She had no way out of it. She looked down at his legs, it was slightly bent from leaning his weight against his sword.

She like Joshua had tripped her before, she swung one of her legs underneath his, and he fell backwards. Just as he did, she pulled his sword away from his loosened grip and threw it far into the sands somewhere.

She didn't know what Joshua would do now that he was disarmed. She watched as Joshua quickly got up and ran towards her, his arm stretched out before him.

Joshua hands gripped tightly around her neck. Marisa gasped for air as he choked her, his grip tightened as she tried to pull his hands off of her.

Marisa fell to the ground, with Joshua on top of her. She gagged as his face remained emotionless.

She had to get him off of him. She balled her hand up into a fist and forced it as hard as she could into Joshua's abdomen. Joshua fell over, releasing Marisa's neck from his grip. She gasped for air as she placed herself on top of Joshua and held his wrist down.

She finally held him in place, but she didn't know how long she could hold him.

Joshua squirmed insanely underneath her, trying to free himself from Marisa's grip.

He then pushed upwards, with Marisa's hands still gripped onto his wrists. She held on as tight as she could to prevent him from choking her again.

She didn't know what to do, but let him continue to push himself onto her. He pushed and pushed until it he was that was on top of her. He couldn't do anything with her holding onto his arms.

"I got it!" shouted a voice.

Marisa kicked Joshua off of her, she saw that she kicked him a far distance of. She ran towards Saleh and Gerik to see what was happening. She saw Saleh holding up the berserk staff and on the ground was something large black object, and it was smoking. She figured Saleh won his battle and scorched Marisol to her death. Good for him.

She continued to watch as he broke the staff in half on top of his knee like a twig and a bright light shone from the staff. She sighed and turned around to see if Joshua had returned to his normal state.

As she turned around, she felt a sharp pain in her left abdomen. Her vision began to blur, and her hands made its way to where the excruciating pain was. She felt the cold metal blade of the sword drove deep within her belly. She felt something wet trickle out of her mouth, it tasted like iron. Possibly her blood. She looked up to see the figure that had struck her.

The last thing she saw was Joshua's black hazed eyes turning back the beautiful crimson color it was before.

* * *

**A/N: **:O! Ohohoho. Don't worry, this isnt the end, I'll tell you that much. Hope you've enjoyed reading this! (Heh, there I go again, saying it. What else am I supposed to say?)


	13. Chapter 13

**Random A/N: **HEHEHE the last reviews from **IsanTheWizard **and **snowylavendermist **made me giggle insanely. I love me a cliffhanger.

I wanted to point something out that **snowylavendermist **said about Marisol and Marisa's name being similar: That was by accident, I just thought the name Marisol sounded mean :P (no offense any marisols out there).

**Disclaimer: I don't own Fire Emblem.**

Happy reading!

(Hm, better? ... Nah, don't feel right.)

ENJOY!

**Chapter 13**

* * *

"You think it would be good for her?" Gerik asked.

Joshua nodded his head, then turned around to look at Gerik.

"Keeping her here has only put her life in danger. I don't think I could handle it if she actually died."

Gerik didn't say anything. Joshua turned back to look at Marisa. Her body laid lifeless on the bed. Her wounds were already treated by Saleh, except for the one on her stomach. Although Saleh had managed to seal the cut up, her organs that were pierced were still healing, and what was left from the cut was now a healing scar. Another scar on her body. This one made by him.

Joshua reached over to grab her hand into his. She was cold and her hand laid limp in his. He gently began to stroke the back of her hand with his fingers.

Joshua was feeling a lot of things. Frustrated, furious, guilty. He had all the more reason to be angry at himself.

It was weird having to wake up surrounded by the desert sand. He glanced around his surroundings, trying to make sense of what happened when he saw an unconscious and bleeding Marisa beside him. After Cormag, Gerik, Ewan, Tethys and Saleh had taken them back to the castle, they explained everything that happened. He couldn't believe it. He couldn't believe that he had easily fallen for Marisol's spell, or whatever it was. Last he remembered being with Marisol was meeting her. And then it was all a blur.

What he was most angry with, was almost killing Marisa.

_She should've killed me._ He repeated this in his thoughts. He felt that he didn't deserve to King because he easily let a stranger into his castle and manipulate him. Although, he would have to blame this part on Innes and Ephraim for recommending him Lady Marisol. He had already sent a very furious letter to Innes.

Joshua leaned back in the wooden chair as he held onto Marisa's hand. Gerik, Tethys, Ewan, Saleh and Cormag all stood behind him.

"You should ask her first." Tethys said softly.

"No." Joshua said quickly. "She can protest all she wants, but I'm not lettin' her stay."

The group remained silent.

"Besides, with you she'd be more safer, more happier." Joshua continued. He had wondered if Gerik ever knew how Marisa felt towards him.

"We'll see when she wakes up." Gerik said.

"In the meantime, we'll leave you two alone." Tethys said. Joshua heard a scatter of footsteps as the group headed out the door.

"Marisa's gonna be okay, right?" He heard Ewan say quietly.

"Yeah, she's gonna be fine, kiddo." Cormag replied assuringly. They closed the door behind them. It was now Joshua and Marisa.

"Oh, Marisa..." Joshua whispered as he leaned in towards the bed. He was exhausted. He was having difficulties keeping his eyes open as Saleh tended to Marisa's wounds. But he wanted to be there for her, make sure she was all right.

Joshua rested his head gently on top of Marisa's hand.

_Stupid girl..._

Why didn't she kill him? He would have much prefer him dying than her to be injured.

He began to close his eyes and think back to the events that had happened, based on what his friends had told him.

He was overwhelmed with emotions, he didn't know what to think. But alas, it was grief that took over his body. He had to wipe his falling tears off of Marisa's hand as he held it closely to his face.

* * *

_(Later that night:)_

Joshua was awoken by the twitch of Marisa's hand underneath his forehead. He immediately let go of her hand and sat up to watch her. Marisa turned her head side to side before she opened her eyes. He watched her eyes slowly locked with his.

"Joshua." She addressed hoarsely. She tried to sit up, but winced at the pain on her abdomen.

"Whoa, hey. Take it easy." Joshua rushed to her side and helped her sit up.

"You're okay." She said after she had settled.

"Yeah... Thanks to Cormag, Gerik, and the others." Joshua said as he sat back down on the wooden chair.

"But are you okay? I... Cut you up pretty bad." Joshua looked down as he talked.

From the corner of his eyes, he could see Marisa lift up her shirt and look down at the scar. He looked up to look at it. It was still healing so it was pink, it looked like a diamond, stretched out from her belly button, to her side.

"I'm fine." Marisa said as she put her shirt down.

Joshua didn't believe her. She wasn't fine. She couldn't be fine. He almost _killed_ her.

"What happened to Marisol... And Duncan?" She asked.

"Marisol is dead thanks to Saleh, and we've managed to capture Duncan. He's in the prison, being held for questioning later."

"Oh." Marisa breathed.

"Marisa." Joshua said. She looked at him. "I'm... So sorry." His voice was low. "I'm so sorry. I almost killed you."

Marisa didn't say anything, so he continued.

"You should've killed me. If I was going to do harm to you, you should've just killed me."

"No, I'm sorry." Marisa said. Joshua stared at her. "I should've done something. I could've prevented this from happening."

Joshua shook his head. "No. It's not your responsibility to do that kind of work. I'm King now. I'm supposed to be looking out for my people."

"You have nothing to apologize for. _I'm_ sorry."

Joshua sighed. Despite her injuries, Marisa was still hard-headed and stubborn. They could go on arguing who was at fault, so Joshua decided to drop the subject. Although in his heart and mind, he knew he was at fault.

"You know when I said if anything happened to you, I wouldn't forgive myself?" Joshua said. She nodded her head slightly. "Well..." He let out a long sigh. No use beating around the bush but get straight to the point. "I think it's best if you go back with Gerik and Tethys."

"What? Why?" Marisa nearly shouted. He could see anger on her face.

"Because Marisa... At least when you're with them, you won't be risking your life for my stupidity. When you're with them, they'll always be with you. With them, you'll be happier."

Marisa didn't say anything but looked down at her fingers. As much as he didn't want to leave her, Joshua wanted to prevent an argument from happening so he stood up.

"When you're healed, I'll have the maids come in and help you pack your stuff." He turned to head towards the door when he felt a tug at the back of his shirt. He turned his head to look down.

Marisa's pale hand held gripped onto his shirt. Joshua looked back up at Marisa's face. There was something different with her face. Her eyebrows were slightly furrowed, and her face expression as soft. She looked sad.

"I... Don't want to leave you." She murmured quietly.

And he did not want her to leave.

Joshua felt Marisa's grip lessen and she eventually let of him. He continued to stand in place, thinking of what to do.

His mind was already made up, and he simply turned his head to whisper, "sorry," and quickly left the room.

* * *

**A/N: **I was thinking if I should kill off Duncan or not, but decided to keep him in. Dunno what I'm gonna do with him, but we'll see. Hope you enjoyed this chapter!


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: **I took **snowylavendermist** little suggestion and did a little scene on Joshua's thoughts when he almost killed Marisa. It's not much, but I hope you'll enjoy it!

**Disclaimer: I don't own Fire Emblem.**

Enjoy!**  
**

**Chapter 14**

* * *

_Where am I?_ Joshua looked around at his surroundings. He was in the desert. But it didn't feel or look like it. The desert wind was cool as it blew softly against him, his hair swayed against the wind. The sky reveled it was neither daytime nor night time. It was red. Blood red. Unusual.

There was nobody around him, all he heard was the whistling of the wind.

But there was something else. Something was laying against his chest.

Joshua looked down. It was a tousle of lavender hair laid against his chest.

_What...?_

He took a step back and Marisa's body fell limp in front of him into the sand. Her skin was unusually pale, and blood was seeping out from her torso. The sand around her body were stained with her blood.

_Marisa!_

He wanted to scream her name, but he couldn't find the strength or energy to work his vocal chords.

He wanted to run to her, and hold her in his arms, but his legs couldn't move.

He held out his arm to reach for her, and in his hand was a sword stained with blood.

_No..._

He dropped the sword, then looked at his hands. They, too, were stained with blood.

_I couldn't have... I didn't..._

He watched his fingers tremble from the thought. He felt his lips twitching, and his body shaking. He began to shake his head.

_No... No... No..._

Joshua looked back up at Marisa's body. The wind slowly blew sand onto her, burying her body.

His legs gave way, and he fell into the sand. He reached over to the blade he had discarded only moments before. He clutched it with his trembling hands_. _

He gave it no second thought. He knew what he had to do. With all his strength, he jabbed the stained blood sword into his chest. He shut his eyes from the impact only to feel nothing. He looked down and the sword was gone.

He looked back up at Marisa. Her body was already covered by the sand, her face almost buried. Her still expressionless face stared at him as it was getting buried.

And just like that, her soul, her body, and her spirit would forever be lost in the desert.

Joshua gasped loudly as he sat up in his bed. He look around his room.

It was only a dream. But it had seem so vivid, and so real. Perhaps it was his mind replaying a memory.

He ran a hand through his hair, it was wet from his sweat.

He laid back down on to his soft mattress and stared at the ceiling.

This was the third night in a row he had this reoccurring dream. The first night had only shown in the blood colored sky desert. The second night, he saw Marisa's head matted on his chest. Tonight, her saw her body. Her dead body.

He had seen the worse of it. If this dream sequence continued on, what would tomorrow's dream show?

he couldn't help but fear for the worst.


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer: I don't own Fire Emblem.**

Enjoy!

**Chapter 15**

* * *

"Can you move properly?" Saleh asked.

"Yes." Marisa quickly sat up. A pain struck in her abdomen area. "Ow." She winced quietly as she held her stomach.

"Looks like you can't. Give it another day, okay?" Saleh said as he helped Marisa lay down. "I know you want to get out of here, but you are obviously still in pain."

Marisa didn't say anything but frown.

"Don't worry, Marisa! I'll stay here to keep you company!" Ewan exclaimed as he jumped onto her bed and laid beside her.

_Great._

"Ewan. We should let her rest. Quietly." Saleh said as he headed out the door.

"Awww." Ewan whined as he jumped from the bed. "Get better!" He yelled as he closed the door behind him.

Marisa sighed. She wanted to get out. She had to talk to Joshua.

Their last conversation had almost resulted her in tears. But she fought hard to hold it back.

_How could he?_

First she gets one little cut on her face, and Joshua freaks. Then she gets a little stab to her stomach and he kicks her out of the castle. Marisa had sustained worse injuries than these.

She felt that Joshua was over-reacting.

But why?

She began to look up and stare at the ceiling.

Marisa had been stuck in bed for 3 days, and in those 3 days, only Saleh and Ewan had come in to check on her, and occasionally the maids came in to change the bed sheets, blankets and whatnot.

Most of her time was spent staring at the ceiling, the same spot where three stone tiles met in the middle. She stared at it long enough to see Joshua's face in it.

_I've got to get out of here…_

Marisa sat up slowly to subside the sharp pain she felt before, but it still ran through her torso. She let out a small whimper as she slowly and steadily kicked her legs over her bed.

She didn't know how, but she was changed out of her usual fighting attire and into a plain cotton white shirt, with a pair of black shorts almost too big for her. She hoped that a woman had changed her.

With success, she climbed out of her bed, but the pain still struck through her as she moved.

She held her side with an arm and made her way to the bedroom door. With her free hand she turned and knob and pulled it open.

Marisa poked her head out the hallway to make sure no one was in sight. There wasn't.

She had to move fast before anyone caught her. She quickly dragged her way to Joshua's room, but an even greater sharp pain shot through her.

"Aurgh…" Marisa moaned. She grabbed onto the wall to help support her body up. She leaned against it to wait for the pain to diminish.

Marisa was beginning to regret getting out of bed. But no, she was already out, so she continue to make her way to Joshua's room.

It shouldn't have been too far, in normal state, Joshua's room was only 6 – 11 steps from her room. But Marisa was dragging her body against the wall. It helped lessen the pain.

Finally, she was in front of his bedroom door.

What if he wasn't in there? She hoped he was.

She knocked lightly with her knuckles.

No answer.

Marisa sighed, and stood there deciding what she should do next.

Searching for him in the castle would be great difficulty for her, and going back to her room would drive her to insanity.

She slowly slid her back against the door to sit down. She would have to wait for him.

* * *

"How is she doing?" Joshua asked as he nervously bit his thumb.

"A little better, but she's still experiencing some pain." Saleh replied.

Joshua began to pace back forth in the guest room.

"Hey, Joshua, why are you so timid?" Gerik asked. Joshua looked over to him. Compared to Gerik's lazy posture on the couch, and Joshua's pacing around the room, he did seem a bit on the edge.

Joshua stopped and glanced around the small room. On the touch situated beside Gerik, was Tethys, with her legs crossed and her hands placed firmly on her knee. On the other side of the room, Cormag sat at the desk, with his legs stretched onto the table, and his chair tilted slightly backwards as he sat back in it. Saleh stood by the door as he had just entered the room, and young Ewan laid comfortably on the bed as he giggled at the fluffiness of the pillows.

Joshua sighed. "Sorry. I haven't had a good sleep for a while." Joshua thought back to his recurring dream. Seeing Marisa's lifeless body made his fingers twitch. He played with with his fingers to make them stop.

"Now you're just being fidgety." Gerik pointed out.

"Thanks." Joshua said sarcastically.

"So, you've told her right?" Cormag as he played with a quail in his fingers.

"Yeah." Joshua replied.

"How'd she take it?"

"... Not good." Joshua admitted.

This was the first time Joshua had met up with the group and talked since that tragic day. The last 3 days spent were trying to catch up on sleep, but that has proved to make Joshua more tired with his dreams. So he's dedicated his time trying to keep the castle in order, and strengthen the army. Gerik, Cormag, Saleh and even Tethys and Ewan were happy to help out the best they can. Some of the guards were still dazed to what had happened. Others were feeling furious or guilty.

"If she doesn't want to leave, don't force her." Gerik said. "If you force her, she can get pretty mad."

Yes, Joshua knew how angry Marisa could get. He knew she held grudges. The look from her glare was enough to make a baby cry.

"Why don't you go talk to her then? Convince her that staying here isn't worth her time." Joshua said.

Gerik gave Joshua a puzzled look then leaned in on his knees.

"I understand why you want her to leave... But don't you think you're being a little bit dramatic?" Gerik asked.

"What? No..." He taken aback. If anything, he was being under dramatic about this.

Gerik stared at Joshua for a while longer. "Okay. Whatever you say." He said reluctantly. "Can we go talk to her right now, Saleh?"

"I assume she's still up. She's been pretty eager to get out of bed." Saleh replied.

The group made their way upstairs, to Marisa's room. To Joshua's surprise, he saw a figure sitting outside his bedroom.

"Marisa?" Joshua asked. As he got closer, he saw that it was indeed her. He ran up to her.

"Joshua." Marisa addressed as she slowly stood up, holding her side.

Joshua looked at how she held her stomach and saw she was still in the process of healing. "Why are you out? You should be resting." He reached out to help her out.

"No." Marisa inched away from his hands.

Joshua wore a confused look on his face as he watched Marisa struggle to straighten herself up.

"I'm not leaving." She said strongly.

"What? You have to get back to bed..."

"No. I'm not leaving the castle."

Joshua stared at Marisa. Her face was still, but her eyes was burned with determination.

"Marisa..." Joshua said softly. "You have to. I... I don't want you here." His eyes averted to the ground. He had tried to make it sound harsh.

"I don't care. I want to be here." Her tone was still strong.

She was so determined, Joshua saw that. She wasn't going down so easily.

"You're being stubborn. The moment you're healed, you're outta here." Why wouldn't she listen? If he can sound angry and harsh, maybe she would co-operate.

Marisa shook her head. "I'm staying."

Joshua was beginning to feel frustrated.

"Why can't you understand?" Joshua said, annoyance was in his voice.

"Understand what?"

"I don't want you here." Joshua felt their level of anger were matched.

There was silent as the tension grew.

"Fight me." Marisa demanded.

"What?" Joshua thought he heard wrong.

"Fight me. I win, I stay. You win... I'll leave."

"You can't fight in your state..."

"Fight me!" She demanded again, this time a bit louder.

"Marisa... Don't do that..." Joshua said soothingly to calm he down.

"Fight me!" Marisa screamed as she raised both hands arm and lurched at him. She had tried to punch him, but only stumbled towards him.

Joshua caught her in his arms. Her body quivered against his body. He looked down at the lavender mess of hair on top of her head.

She was crying.

He was surprised by her sudden action. She was so determined and willing... Why did she want to stay so badly? And now that she was crying, it pained him seeing her like this.

"Marisa..." Joshua whispered. He wrapped his arms around her body and held her tight. He rested his chin on top gently of her head and closed his eyes. He listened to the the short gasp of air from her as she quietly sobbed.

"I care so much about you." Joshua whispered as he rested a hand against her soft silky hair. "I couldn't- I didn't-" Joshua didn't know where to start.

"When I found out that I hurt you... Almost killed you..." He choked out the last few words, "I couldn't believe it. I couldn't sleep the pass few days."

Marisa continued to sob quietly, her face was buried in his chest.

Joshua continued. "The thought of that happening again... I couldn't bare it. If you died..." Joshua positioned his head so now the right side of his face grazed softly against her head. Her hair was smooth against his face.

Joshua drew her body closer to his.

"That's why... You have to leave. So that I won't be the reason of your death. So that I won't have to watch you..." He gulped, he was hesitant to say the next word, "die," he whispered.

"I'm so sorry." He said.

This embrace... This hug... Joshua wanted it to last just a bit longer. The truth all along was he never wanted her to leave. He wanted her to stay by his side. In his arms just like this.

"Marisa... I love you." Joshua said. He didn't have to think about it; it was as if the words had slipped of his tongue. Like it had been waiting for so long on the tip, ready to jump off.

He closed his eyes as he waited for her response.

He heard Marisa sniffle then felt her arms reach around his waist, gently placing them there.

"And I love you too." Was her reply.

Joshua sighed and continued to hold her in his arms.

Nothing could ruin this moment. Nothing,

Then, Joshua heard a sniffle, not from Marisa though.

He turned his head to the side where Gerik, Tethys, Saleh, Ewan and Cormag stood.

Tethys had wiped her nose with a scarf that she wore, her eyes were glassy.

Cormag stood with his arms crossed and a small smile on his face.

Saleh also stood in place with a smile spread across his face.

Ewan, innocent as he is, had a confused look on his face.

And Gerik looked like he was enjoying every moment of this. When Joshua looked at him, a huge grin spread over his face.

"My best pal... With my best fight partner... I think I'm going to cry." Gerik opened his arms out as he approached Joshua and Marisa.

"No, don't-"

Gerik took the two in his huge arms, and tightly hugged them both.

"I'm so happy for you guys!" Gerik hollered as he easily lifted the two off their feet.

Gerik quickly placed them down and Cormag walked over.

"Congratulations!" Cormag said as he patted Joshua and Marisa gently on their back.

"And you guys have my best wishes. I hope you two will be happy." Saleh said.

"You two _are _really in love with each other!" Ewan exclaimed as she pointed to them. "I-I..." Then he sprinted down the hall.

"You guys... I always knew you two would be together." Tethys said in a horse voice. It was obvious she was crying. Tethys wiped a tear from her eyes with her scarf. "Beautiful! Just beautiful!"

"Heh..." Joshua chuckled nervously. He had forgotten they were there,

"Get them out of here." Muffled a voice. Joshua looked down at Marisa, whom he was still tightly holding in his arms. Her face was still buried in his chest. He figured she didn't want to show her crying face in front of the crowd.

"Right." He whispered. "Can you guys give us a second?"

"Oh, of course." Saleh said.

"Yeah, take all the time you need." Cormag said.

"This is a beautiful moment for you guys. Don't let us ruin it!" Tethys said, as she blew her nose into the scarf.

The three began to walk down the hall, but Gerik continued to stand beside the pair, that grin still plastered on his face.

Joshua simply stared at him, while Gerik smiled creeply at him.

"So does this mean you guys... Y'know?" Gerik asked.

Joshua only answer was a grim glare.

"Okay, okay, I'm going." Gerik said as he threw his hands up into the air.

Joshua watched as Gerik descended down the stairs.

He loosened his arms a bit for Marisa to breathe from his tight hug. She lifted her head up from his chest and stared into his face.

For someone who had just cried, she looked angelic. It might have been her tears that gave her the glittering glow to her face, but it didn't matter.  
To him, Marisa was the most beautiful woman he had ever laid eyes on.

"Does this mean... I'm staying?" Marisa asked in a low voice.

Joshua was reluctant to answer her. He didn't know the answer himself, but he knew he had to give her an answer.

It wasn't as difficult as he thought, he knew what the answer would be without having to think about it.

He gave her a smile. "Yes." He said, before he placed his lips softly onto her forehead.

* * *

**A/N: **YESSSS, they've finally admitted their love to each other!

Ha, I wasnt sure to add the humor part, where the group stood there and watch Joshua and Marisa confess their love. But I did it anyways.

Does this mean the story's over? NO WAYYYY. I've got much more planned for this story... so stay tuned!

Hope you have enjoyed this chapter as much as I wrote this. Even tears were brought to my eyes D; Glorious! Just glorious!


	16. Chapter 16

**Random A/N: **So Marisa and Joshua finally confessed their love to each other... Bit of the warning, this chapter includes mature adult contents... Can you handle that?

**Disclaimer: I don't Fire Emblem.**

Enjoy!**  
**

**Chapter 16**

* * *

Joshua yawned and stretched his upper body as he woke up.

He looked around his room and reminisced on last night's event.

"_Marisa… I love you." _

"_And I love you too." _

He smiled to himself. It was finally off his chest, and he was glad she felt the same way about him. It was hard to read Marisa's quiet emotions, but everything came out as he had hoped for last night.

After their hug, the two went into his room where they fell asleep in each other's arms.

Joshua looked to his left, where his love was sleeping gracefully. Marisa laid on the right side of the body, facing him, with her arms nudged underneath the pillow, her legs were spread neatly across her side of the bed. Her head was rested softly on the pillow, with her lips slightly parted.

He watched her as her body moved up and down from her rhythmic breathing.

Although she was fully cloth, his eyes wandered about her body. The blankets was messily spread across her body, part of her legs were exposed, as well as her whole upper body.

The white cotton shirt she had worn had shifted upwards, revealing her bare belly, where the scar he had made on her stared at him in his face.

Joshua bit his lips. He knew that whenever he looked at it, it would just be a reminder to what he had done to her.

He quickly averted his gaze downward, where Marisa's right leg laid on top of the mess of the blanket.

She had a marvelous body. The best he's ever seen.

As embarrassed it is to admit, he was sexually frustrated. It had been a long time since he had… 'some.' But he was a man, and he had urges. He just wasn't too sure if Marisa had any urges beside the need to fight.

He wondered.

Joshua sighed then couldn't help but look back at the healing scar on her belly. It was mocking him. He couldn't stand to look at it so he reached over and as carefully as he could, pulled her shirt down.

The sudden touch made Marisa jolt up.

Joshua stared in bewilderment at how quickly she reacted.

Marisa sat up and frantically looked around the room before turning her head to him.

"Hi there. You're a pretty light sleeper." He smiled.

"I thought… Never mind." A quirky habit? Joshua quickly brushed it off.

"So how are you feeling today?" He asked as he sat up next to her.

"Better. It doesn't hurt." She replied

"Good."

The two sat in silence as they avoided each other's gaze. It was weird, Joshua felt they were two shy young school children in love. All he wanted to do was to hold her and kiss her, but he wasn't sure if she felt the same.

"Hey, Marisa." Joshua finally said.

She quickly turned to look at him.

"I really do care about you… But you can stay here on one condition."

Marisa waited for him to continue speaking.

"I don't want you rushing into any more battles and risking your life. Whenever you fight, I want to be with you. To protect you."

Marisa remained silent.

"God forbid if anything happened to you…"

"I know." Marisa finally spoke. "I feel the same. About you, I mean."

"So we both understand each other, right?" Joshua smiled as he nodded his head.

"Yeah."

"Okay, good." Joshua looked down at his fingers.

This was the part where he was supposed to kiss her. He was nervous. He had never had been nervous to kiss a woman before. He didn't understand why. She wasn't like most women where they get giddily after a kiss. How would she react? Has she ever been kissed before? Oh, so much things he wondered about.

Well, that's just a gamble he would have to take.

He turned his head to her, where she faced him again. They stared at each other for a while before Joshua leaned in, puckering his lips out. He began to close his eyes as he got nearer.

He inched closer and closer, expecting to feel something soft on his lips.

"Sorry." She quickly apologized. Joshua opened his eyes and saw that she had moved away from him.

"Uh, about what?" Joshua asked disappointedly.

"I've never… Did this before." She looked down almost shamefully.

Joshua raised an eyebrow.

A virgin. The thought of it made him smirk. He's never been with one, and from what he heard, virgins were supposed fun. Something about 'breaking in' a pure, innocent woman had intrigued the thoughts of many men. Not his words, but the curtly men he had met at a bar.

Although, he knew Marisa was far from innocent in a sense of what she does on the battefield. Whenever he watched her fight, her opponents were always brutally slaughtered by her blade. As she cut them down, her face wouldn't even flinch.

She was dangerous. But what about in bed? Again, the thought intrigued him.

"Y'know, if I were a stranger on the street and you told me that, I wouldn't believe it. But knowing you… It's okay."

Marisa continued to stare down.

"We don't… Have to rush into anything…" Joshua said reluctantly and slowly. An obvious lie.

"Really?" Marisa looked up at him.

Joshua slowly nodded his head. For her, he could wait forever. He just hoped she knew how long he could only contempt himself and his manly needs.

"Okay." Marisa said before she leaned in towards him.

"What are you doing?" Joshua asked, confused.

"I want to see what it feels like." She replied.

Joshua smiled mischievously. "Are you sure? I just said we didn't have to rush into anything."

_What are you doing? Just go with the flow before she changes her mind!_

"Er, I mean, if you really want to, y'know. Then, yeah." Joshua stammered. He was nervous from the excitement.

Joshua started to lean in.

"Never mind." Marisa said as she quickly got out of bed.

Joshua fell face-first onto the bed.

"W-What?" He cried out. Marisa sat on the edge of the bed to put on her boots.

Then there was pounding at the door.

"Jossshuuuuaaaa." Said the voice. He knew immediately that it was Gerik.

"Oh, god." Joshua said under his breath as he got out of bed.

"I know you're in there. With Marisa. And I know what you guys did in there!" He hollered.

Joshua scoffed. He wished. So did Joshua. He leaned over to put his boots up then his hat.

"I know you guys can hear me and word is that Innes is here."

"Innes?" Oh right, his furious letter to him.

"After you guys are done doing… Whatever in there, he'll be waiting in the dining room." The sound of Gerik's footstep retreating were heard.

Joshua stood up, so did Marisa.

"Well." Sighed Joshua as he walked over to Marisa.

"I gotta get going…" He said.

"I know. I heard."

"You wanna come with?" Joshua asked.

"No. I'm going to see how the guards are doing."

"Oh." Joshua said disappointedly.

They stood there a while longer.

"Bye." Marisa finally said as she headed to the door.

Joshua watched as she reached down to the turn the door knob.

"Wait!" Joshua cried as he jogged over to her. She looked up at him.

"Uh…" Joshua wanted to give her a kiss goodbye even though they would still be in the castle, but if she wasn't comfortable with a kiss, then he shouldn't force it on her.

"Bye." He smiled.

Marisa stared at him for a few seconds before leaving.

Joshua let out a groan. That was painfully humiliating on his part. He scratched the back of his head as he poked his head out the hallway to watch her disappear. He wanted to avoid her for time being so he could recuperate from the embarrassment, but he was surprised to see her at her bedroom door, looking back at him.

"What are you doing?" She asked.

"UHHH…" He couldn't tell her he wanted to avoid her.

"Just… Wanted… To make sure you were safe…?" He said nervously.

"I'm just changing my clothes." She replied.

"Oh, well, you never know… Well, see ya!" He called out as she quickly shut the door and walked hastily down the opposing hallway.

Normally, he would not be the train wreck he was right now.

* * *

"In all of honesty, I would have never thought Marisol would have ever felt that way." Innes said.

"You put a lot of lives in danger, Prince-y." Joshua said curtly as he leaned back in the dining chair with his arms crossed.

Innes, who sat across from at the table began to tap his slender fingers on the wooden table.

"I didn't know. She's worked with me and Tana years before, when we were just children. I haven't seen her in all these years. I'm sorry, Joshua. I hope there weren't too many casualties."

"No, not at all. Just a few injuries here and there." He thought back on Marisa's injury that he made himself, then quickly shook his head to get rid of such thoughts.

Innes sighed. "She was sincere… Though harsh, but I know she meant well. She only wanted the best from us."

"Not me. She targeted me because she thought I was weak. And I am weak for falling under her spell."

Innes didn't say anything.

"What if more people come after me? Because they know I'm not a suitable King?" Joshua was starting to scare himself as he spoke.

"Stop putting yourself down, you fool. You've already managed to rebuild most of Jehanna. If that's not being a good King, I don't know what is." Innes shrugged.

He did have a point.

"And you've got a ton of fine men here, that's why you were saved."

"Actually, Marisa and… Marisa saved me. Oh, and Gerik, Saleh, Ewan and Tethys. Yep." Joshua said. He knew Cormag also helped, but it was best not to mention his name in front of Innes. He was sure Innes was aware of the relationship between his sister, Tana and Cormag.

"Marisa eh? Well, then you're lucky to have her."

"Indeed I am…" He muttered to himself.

"And what about this Duncan fellow? I have heard great talk of his superior skills as a general, but never worked with him."

"He's being held in the prisoner cell right now, we shall go question him later on."

"Hm. Sounds good. And I truly am sorry, Joshua." Innes apologized.

"Bah… You didn't know…" Joshua was quick to forgive, he wasn't one to hold grudges, especially to a friend.

"Well, now that's out of the way, I would like to invite you to mine and Eirika's wedding next week." Innes pulled out an envelope and slid it to him across the table.

"Your wedding? I believe it was Tana who caught L'Arachel's bouquet at the wedding. Tradition is that whoever catches it is to wed next." Of course, how could she wed if she didn't know where Cormag was? He had thought perhaps Tana would move on with someone else.

"She's still looking for that cowardly fool, Cormag. Right after Ephraim and L'Arachel's wedding, she embarked on her journey with Vanessa and Syrene. Personally, I don't think he's worth it. I hope he's dead so Tana can see how idiotic she looks.

Joshua remained silent. He really, really hoped Cormag didn't show up anytime soon.

"Hey, Joshua, I was just going to tell you that I'm heading into town." Said a voice. Joshua looked up at the entrance to see who it was. He saw a blonde head.

Speak of the devil, It was Cormag.

Joshua stared in bafflement at him. What was he doing here? Didn't he know Innes was here?

Joshua quickly turned to look at Innes, who was looking down at his glass as he swished the liquid in it around.

"Go away." Joshua mouthed at him.

"What? I can't hear you." Cormag shouted.

The dining room was similar a long hallway except wider. The table was long enough to serve 40 people, and Joshua and Innes sat at the end furthest away from the entrance.

"Who in the world is the shouting fool?" Innes muttered as he looked up.

_Uh oh…_

Joshua held his breath, and shifted his gaze between Cormag and Innes to see their reaction.

"YOU!" Innes shouted as he stood up. The feet of his chair screeched against the stone ground.

Joshua watched as Cormag finally recognized it was Innes. Cormag's eyes widened then shifted his head to the left and right down the hall. Then he booked it down the hall.

"GET BACK HERE YOU OBLIVIOUS FOOL!" Innes screamed as he chased after him.

"Crap." Joshua said under his breath as he followed after them.

He was led to the courtyard outside the entrance of the castle. Innes was a fast feller, so he easily caught up to Cormag, where he sprang himself onto the poor wyvern rider. The two fell onto the ground, then Innes wrestled him for a bit.

"Okay, okay, break it off!" Joshua shouted as he pulled Innes off of Cormag.

"Do you have any idea what you've put my sister through?" Innes snarled as he was held back by Joshua.

"I have some sort of an idea what she's been through…"

"An idea isn't enough, you coward!" Innes lurched at Cormag, but Joshua held him back.

"And you! How long has he been here? Why didn't you tell me?" Innes turned his head to Joshua.

"Uh… There's a very good reason, Innes." Joshua said.

"Let go of me!" Innes demanded.

"Only if you behave." Joshua teased. Innes stopped struggling in his arms, and Joshua let him go.

Innes fixed his silver locks of hair into place.

"Explain yourself, fool" Innes scowled.

"I… I love your sister. But I have this issue with myself that I need to straighten up before I can go be with her."

"Issue? What issue? Are you a mad man now?" Innes said curtly.

"No." Cormag said aggravated.

"King Joshua!" Said a guard as he ran up to the three. "The prisoner, Duncan has escaped!"

"What?" Joshua said.

"There's no evidence showing how he did it!"

"I've gotta see this for myself." Joshua followed after the guard, along with Innes and Cormag, the two keeping a safe distance from each other.

* * *

"Impossible…" Said Innes as he investigated the cell.

"Hm…" Joshua walked over to the cell Duncan was held in. "So he just sprang outta here, huh?" There was nothing left behind, and the lock looked like it hadn't been tempered with. It was as if no one had ever stayed in there.

"We each took turn watching the cell, your majesty! All day, we've been watching. But, Bob here went out to get a drink, and when he came back, Duncan was gone." The guard nudged the guard next to him, supposedly Bob.

"I-I was only gone for a second, your sire! I'm terribly sorry and I'll take any punishment you may enforce on me!"

"Not good, not good at all." Joshua shook his head. He turned to Bob. "It's okay, you're only human and human need to hydrate themselves when needed." He smiled at him.

"Uh, uh, but King Joshua-"

"I only ask you that and the other men do a thorough search of the castle. And go into the town. As well search the desert for any stray travelers."

"Yes, King Joshua!" The two guards rushed up the stairs.

"He's a dangerous man, Joshua." Cormag said.

Joshua nodded his head in agreement. He was still fazed from the news. How could he just escape?

"If you want, I would be happy to assist in the search for him." Innes said.

"That's very generous of you, but I'm sure you have to get home to get ready for your wedding." Joshua said.

"There's always time to squeeze in assisting a friend in search for a mad man." Innes said.

Joshua nodded, "Great. Let's go search the town, you and I."

"Me and the other wyvern riders can go to the boarders. He couldn't have gotten to far." Cormag said.

"Yeah, good idea." The three headed up the stairs and parted their way, but before they did, Joshua noticed a glare from Innes to Cormag and Cormag gulping quite nervously.

* * *

The sun was setting, and Joshua, Innes, Cormag and a number of men from the castle of Jehanna were still searching for the escaped Duncan.  
Gerik, Tethys, Saleh and Ewan had also assisted to help.

To their very best, they've searched high and low, asking all the townspeople if they've seen the man, to looking into every nook and cranny of the castle. But still no Duncan.

Gerik and the others had already gone home, and Joshua and Innes were left.

Innes arrived in Jehanna in the middle of the night before, and to avoid waking Joshua from his slumber, he decided it was best to check in a room from a hotel in town. So the two parted way at the entrance of the hotel.

"Thanks for your help Innes." Joshua said.

"My pleasure. I'm just disappointed we didn't find the scum bag." Innes sure did like to call people names. "I'll come by once more to say goodbye in the morning."

"Great!" Joshua replied.

All day, Joshua had been curious what Innes will do now that he knew Cormag was in Jehanna, but never brought it up to avoid a yelling fit from the soon-to-be King.

"Well, goodnight." Innes said as he turned around.

"Uh, goodnight!" Joshua couldn't muster up the courage to ask him, so he headed back to the castle.

By the time Joshua arrived at the castle, it was dark.

"Cormag." Joshua said, surprised to see him seated in one of the benches in the courtyard.

"Oh Joshua. I was hoping Innes would be with you." Cormag said as he stood up.

Joshua would've thought Cormag would be avoiding him after their confrontation. "Why?" He asked.

"I was just going to tell him that I'm ready to see Tana."

"Really? Hey, that's great." Joshua said as he walked up to him and patted him on the back.

"Heh, I guess."

"You guess? It's... Wonderful!" Joshua said as he smiled. "By the way, why did you come into the dining room earlier? Surely you would've known Innes was here."

"I didn't! I asked one of the guards and they said you were in the dining room. I assumed you were there to eat breakfast or something."

"Hm." Sounded reasonable. "Innes doesn't like you very much."

"Meh, that's alright. I'll live... Somehow." Cormag sighed. "By the way, Marisa's been waiting for you in the garden since sunset."

"Hm. Wait, what?" Before Cormag could say anymore, Joshua sprinted into the castle then to the garden. Now that Marisa was better, their daily spars was still on. When he got to the entrance of the garden, he nearly knocked Marisa over.

"Joshua." Marisa said.

"Oh! Marisa! I'm sorry I'm late, I was in town. I'm sure you heard that... Duncan escaped."

"Yes." She nodded.

"We didn't find him yet. But we're going to continue to search tomorrow."

"Good." She said.

"So I take it that you're here to spar?"

"Yeah." Marisa took out her sword.

"Are you sure? You're completely healed right?" Joshua was hesitant. He wasn't too sure he should be sparring with Marisa anymore, not after what he done to her. Although, at the time he was berserk, he was afraid he would hurt her again.

"Why so worried? I'm fine." Why wasn't she afraid like he was? It seemed like she had completely forgotten what happened.

"Okay..." Joshua said slowly as he drew his sword out. He would just have to go easy on her.

They met in the middle of the garden, where they paced to the side, waiting for one to make the first move.

Of course, as consistent as she was, Marisa made the first move.

Joshua felt that every time they sparred, she got faster. He didn't see her come at him untill the very last second, when her sword reflected the orange of the torches fire.

He blocked it easily with his blade, but it gave him no time to prepare for her next strike.

Her cold blade laid gently to his neck.

"That was fast." She said.

Joshua didn't even see what had happened. She moved too quickly. But he had to agree, that was a quick spar, and he was defeated so easily, with two strikes from her.

"Are you trying?" Marisa asked.

"Yes!" He did plan to go easy on her, but only when he knew he was winning.

"Again." She said as she lifted her sword from his neck.

"Again?" Joshua repeated.

"Yes. I need a challenge."

"I'm not enough of a challenge for ya?" He joked.

"Apparently no."

Joshua frowned. Even though they would be considered a 'couple', nothing had changed and he wouldn't change their dynamic chemistry for the world.

"Alright then. I'll just have to give it my all." He smirked.

This time, it was Joshua who commenced the first move. Marisa quickly dodged his attack and threw one of her own. Joshua jumped back to avoid it.

It missed him by inches, and Joshua countered with another swing. Again Marisa dodge it to the right, and stroke her sword.

This went on for a long time. Only the sounds of the wind whipping was heard as their swords swung at each other.

Joshua was tired from dodging and swinging, but he couldn't give up so easily. She wanted a challenge, and he hoped he was giving her one just as she was giving him one.

Finally, Marisa blocked one of his attacks, and as she held his sword with hers, she swung it in a circle and his whipped blade out of his hand.

"Good." Marisa panted as she raised her sword once again to his neck.

"Heh. Was that enough of a challenge for you?" He said as he, too, panted.

Marisa nodded her head then drew her sword into her sheath.

Joshua walked over to pick his blade up.

"I win." Marisa said. "So..." Joshua turned to look at her.

"I... Want to kiss you." She said quietly, her head hung low and her cheeks flushed with a light peach color.

Joshua was taken aback. Had she really said that? But he was happy at the same time that she would embrace her feelings. "Really?" He asked, his voice a little high from excitement. "I mean, ahem, really?" He asked again after clearing his voice.

Marisa nodded.

Suddenly, Joshua didn't feel so nervous anymore and began to smirk. "That was a waste of a bet."

Marisa gave him a slightly puzzled look.

Joshua walked to her. "You don't have to win a bet to kiss me... You can do it any time." He whispered. "Just like how I want to kiss you all the time."  
He reached down to her chin and pulled her face upwards to his.

He softly brushed his lips against hers and continued in doing so. The hand on her chin wrapped around the side of her face, with his other arm wrapped around her waist.

He felt one of her arm around his waist, and her hand gently laid on the side of his face.

Joshua inched her in closer to his body. His lips opened and his tongue found its way into Marisa's mouth. He felt that Marisa was taken by surprise at this, but she quickly followed his action as her tongue mimicked his as it intertwined with each other.

Her hand made its way to the back of his neck and he felt her pull his head closer.

She wanted more of him.

Before things got too heavy, Joshua pulled away.

They were left gasping for breath.

"That was... Good." Marisa breathed.

Joshua grinned.

"Well, we'll save this for later, right now we all should use a good night's rest." Although he wanted the kiss to lead to something more, he was exhausted from their duel.

"Can I... Sleep with you again?" Marisa asked softly.

Joshua smiled. "Of course." Though, that would mean he would have to try to contempt himself from doing anything with her in bed. But that didn't matter, as long as he got to be beside the woman he loved, he was happy.

* * *

**A/N: **Bwahaahhaa, Joshua's horny. Duncan's escaped, and Cormag is finally ready to see Tana! Pew pew tons of stuff, tons of stuff. I would like to hank you to those who read and reviewed, I really hope you've hoped the story so far!


	17. Chapter 17

**Random A/N: **So... Another chapter with MOAR mature contents. Just another warning. Sure you can handle it?

**Disclaimer: I don't own Fire Emblem.**

Enjoy!

**Chapter 17**

* * *

That week was filled with some of the happiest moments for her; from waking up next to Joshua, to spending all day with him, and finally falling asleep next to him.

She had always believed she was incapable of finding that 'perfect' other because of her hostile personality; thus making her the least ideal to most men. Others knew it, so did she. Surprisingly, she was led to Joshua, the least expected person she would have thought to share feelings with.

Love sure did come unexpectedly.

She thought back on that very day where they had confessed their love to each other. Originally, Marisa had planned to reason with Joshua to letting her stay by revealing her feelings to him. She had never expected to cry, but her emotions got to her. She was only relief that Joshua had shared the same feelings as her, although she had felt a little something before but it was never enough to call it "love."

Marisa instantly woke up when she heard a voice. She sat up and gazed around the room for the intruder.

"Wanna make a bet?" Mumbled a voice. Marisa looked down at the sleeping Joshua, his arms sprawled across the bed, his head tilted upwards with his mouth hung open. The blanket only covered his lower part of this body and his bare chest was revealed.

_Even in his sleep he makes bets. _She rolled her eyes._  
_

Marisa laid back down on the bed then turned her head to look at Joshua. She smiled at the snoring King then rolled over to rest her head on his chest.

Joshua let out a loud snort from the sudden weight on his body.

"Oh, Marisa, good morning." He said groggily as he wrapped his arms around her.

"Good morning." Marisa replied as she snuggled up to him. She felt warm from the heat illuminating from his body.

Joshua let out a long sigh, his chest fell with her head on it.

They laid in silence. Marisa enjoyed this moment, being in the arms of her lover with the sunrise beaming it warm glow into the room. It was euphoric.

"Marisa, can I ask you a question?" Joshua asked.

"What?"

"Do you ever have... Urges?"

She thought for a moment. "Urges? Like needs?"

"Yeah!" Joshua exclaimed.

She scanned the room as thought for an answer. "Yes, sometimes I need to fight."

Joshua let out a long sigh.v"Okay... But what about other needs?"

Marisa thought for second then knew exactly what he was talking about.

Sexual urges.

She immediately blushed. "N-no. What are you talking about?" She lied. Marisa noticed that all week, Joshua had asked her strange questions such as urges and frustrations, and she had answered them as if she had no clue. The truth was, she was frightened of sex.

It was not as if she was clueless to what it was, she just never experienced it. It had never bothered her that she knew many people her age who had or was having sex, and that she was still a virgin. But now that she was in a relationship with someone, she felt as it Joshua was expecting something from her. She knew Joshua had experience in this... 'Expertise', and being a first timer, what if she did not meet up with his expectations? What if she was not as good as the other girls he's been with? She was truly, truly frightened.

Joshua let out a seemingly frustrated sigh, but coated it by sweetly speaking. "Never mind then, we should get up now, we still have to search for that Duncan guy."

Marisa moved away from his chest to sit up.

"Again?" All week, they have been looking high and low in the desert for him, but no luck. It was certain that he was long and gone.

"We have to find him, the guy's dangerous." Joshua said as he pulled up his pants.

Marisa nodded her head. She was sure that Duncan would've already left Jehanna already, but you could never be to certain.

* * *

As soon as they got dressed and ate breakfast, they headed into town with a small group of the castle's soldiers. Everyone dispersed to ask the townspeople if they've seen a man described as tall, had dark brown hair, and wearing a green leather jacket. Marisa stuck with Joshua, although Joshua did most of the talking.

As they pushed through the busy crowd on the street, many people recognized Joshua as King.

"It's King Joshua!"

"Move out of the way!" They would scream.

Joshua merely shrugged off the recognition, at least it would be less of a hassle to push their way through the crowd.

They stopped at a fruit market, where Joshua asked the owner of any suspicious people or activity around. Marisa looked waited as she looked around, her eyes fell on a couple in front of a sleazy bar.

"Hey fella, looking for a good time?" Asked the lady. She was wearing a skimpy outfit that revealed much of her legs and cleavage, her face was colored with all different kind of makeup so it was hard to tell her real age. The fella she had asked was a tall muscled man, possibly in his early 30s, and from the look of his clothes, he looked like a mercenary.

The man turned to look at her then grinned. "Sure." He said then he grabbed her around the waist and started roughly kissing her. The woman showed no restrain but giggled as they smooched.

Marisa stared in disgust.

_Is that what me and Joshua look like when we kiss?_

The man moved his hands up and down the woman's body. Marisa instantly looked away.

"Looks like they haven't seen him either. Hey, are you okay?" Joshua asked as she looked at Marisa.

"Yes. Why wouldn't I be?"

"You look like you're gonna throw up."

"I do?" Perhaps it was from looking at the man grope the woman disgustingly. "I'm fine." She said.

Joshua gave her a look of concern before leading the way to an inn.

Joshua asked if anyone of Duncan's appearance was seen around here or have checked into the inn. The innkeeper was a really old man so he just stared at Joshua through his small pair of glasses.

"Uh... Hello?" Joshua asked as he waved his hand in front of the man's face.

"Hi! Would you like to check in?" The old man chirped.

"No, you already asked me that." Joshua muttered to himself. "I'm looking for a man, can you tell me if you've seen him or not?" Joshua asked loudly. He was practically shouting in the poor man's ear. Although it seemed to have no effect on him. The man continued to stare at him.

"Oh! Hold on." He said as he walked away.

"What..." Joshua turned to look at Marisa. "This might take a while." He said.

"It's okay. I'm going to walk around."

"Be careful." Marisa gave him a puzzled look. The inn was probably the least likely place for anyone to jump her.

"It's an inn."

"You never know. I don't want no sleazy man hitting on milady." Joshua said as he smirked and gave Marisa a wink.

Marisa furiously blushed as she walked away.

She began to walk down a hall, filled with doors to various inns room.

Then there was a scream, it sounded close, so it must've come from one of the rooms. Marisa immediately took out her blade and ran down the hall. She came to the last two rooms on the left.

The scream was heard again, though a little more shrilled. There was a huge crash, sounded like glass shattering and then some moaning.

She was sure the ruckus was coming from the last room, so with all her might, she easily kicked the door down.

Marisa glanced around the room for any suspicious looking person. Her eyes fell onto the bed where two naked people laid, a man and a woman.

The man was on top of the woman, and thankfully had some sort of fabric covering their bottom half of their body. The couple looked like they were in their mid-20s, the woman had chestnut brown hair, and the man had flaming red hair.

The woman let out a shriek from the sight of Marisa. "W-What are you doing here?" She shrilled. The man stared at Marisa in bewilderment.

"I-I-I..." Marisa stuttered. She was still in the process of taking in what she had just seen. Near the bed, there was a bed dresser that looked out of place, and beside a shattered glass of cup with spilled water. She did not have to look no more to know what they were doing.

The man quickly got off the woman and sat beside her as she pulled the bed sheet covers to her chest.

"What are you doing here? Get out!" The woman screamed, as the man continued to stare at Marisa.

Without any hesitation, Marisa quickly ran out of the room and down a flight of stairs that took her outside into an alley. She bumped into someone.

"Oof!" It was Gerik. The impact from onto his hard chest sent her stumbling backwards while Gerik seemed to not move an inch from his spot. "Hey Marisa! What are you doing here? Hey, are you okay? You look like you seen a ghost."

"Uh, I'm fine." She said, her voice a little shaky.

"No, you're not." He took her by the shoulders and started intensely at her. "You're kinda red in the face. Do you have a fever?" He placed the back of his hand onto her forehead.

"I'm fine!" Marisa said as she moved away from him. "I just..." She bit her lip. She wasn't sure if she should tell Gerik what she had saw. But if she had to to fend off his concerning questions, she just might have to.

"Just...?" Gerik ushered her to continue.

"I walked in on a couple... Having sex." She blurted out as she looked at the ground.

"W-What?" He chuckled. "Are you spying on people to learn how to do it properly?" He grinned.

"No! And what do you mean 'do it properly'?"

"You can't fool me, I know a virgin when I see one. And besides, I've worked with you so long to know what you don't have time for such, uh, activities."

She blushed and looked shamefully to the ground. She hadn't known it was so obvious, and she was embarrassed that Gerik knew. Years before, when she had feelings for him, she would sometimes fantasize being cradled in his big arms.

"Hey, it's okay. It's kinda cute, and I bet Joshua doesn't even care." He placed an assuring hand on her shoulder and gave her a wink.

She felt a little better, although it was strange having this talk with him.

"Just a little heads up though, when you guys do it, I know he'll like it when you-Oof!" Marisa aggressively nudged in the gut and Gerik let out a groan. As much as she appreciated him comforting her and being her friends, this was the kind of things she did not want to talk with him about.

And just time, Joshua had come around the corner.

"Hey, Marisa! There you are. And Gerik?" Joshua said as he came up to them. "Why are you guys in an alley?" He asked.

"We were just-" Marisa elbowed him once again, in fear he'll tell Joshua what they were conversing about.

"Talking. We were talking." Marisa quickly said.

Joshua eyed the two suspiciously.

"I was just gonna say that!" Gerik exclaimed as he rubbed his tummy. "I was just going to the armory to get some weapons when I ran into Marisa here."

Joshua didn't say anything but continued to suspiciously eye to the two.

"Well, see ya two." He said and quickly left.

Joshua watched as Gerik left the alley before turning to face Marisa.

"What was that all about?" Joshua asked.

"Nothing." Marisa said. Joshua stared at her. She knew he was suspecting something.

"Okay..." He said slowly. "Let's go look around some more, that old innkeeper managed to tell me that he hasn't seen a Duncan look-a-like around here."

Marisa nodded and trailed behind him.

As they traveled through the town, Marisa couldn't help but feel something tingling within her body, like she hungry for something. What was it?

Then she knew, it was an urge.

* * *

Just as the sun was setting, Joshua, Marisa and the rest of their small group of soldiers headed back to the castle. As they entered the castle, Marisa waited for her and Joshua to be alone.

"Joshua. I have to tell you something." Marisa said as she grabbed hold onto his arm.

"Hm? What is it?"

"I think... I'm ready." She said.

Joshua raised an eyebrow. "Ready for... What?" He asked.

"To have sex." She said with a smirk. After a day in the town, Marisa had managed to overcome her (almost) fear. She couldn't deny her needs, and she was sure Joshua was just as 'starving' for it as she was.

"Really?" He asked, his voice an octave higher than his usual deep suave tone. He cleared his throat and asked again, this time in his normal voice.

Marisa nodded.

"So, no duel?"

Marisa bit her lip. She hated the thought of passing up a spar, but for the sake Joshua, and possibly her's, she would just have to do it.

"No duel." She responded.

"Really? I was thinking we could do something like-"

"I'm giving you a chance. Take it before I change my mind." She said bitterly.

Joshua's smile turned big. "All right!" He said as he scooped Marisa up into his arms bridal style then ran up the stairs. Each step he took, Marisa bopped up and down in his arms.

She was surprised by his sudden action to ask what he was doing.

When they got to his room, he gently laid her onto his bed and caught his breath.

"Why did you do that?" Marisa asked as she sat up.

"Whew!" Joshua breathed, his hands on his hips as he caught his breath. He sat himself beside her. "I was trying to be romantic." He grinned.

There was nothing romantic about a man out of breath after he carries his woman to the bedroom. But Marisa brushed it off.

As soon as Joshua caught his breath, she immediately leaned in to kiss him.

Once again, like their nights before, their lips brushed roughly against each other as their tongues caressed moistly against each other.

Joshua rolled himself onto her, his hands and her hands fondling on each other's body. She felt his hand slip underneath her and shirt and peel it away from her body. She was topless.

Maybe she was too caught up in the moment, their lips brushing against each other, their breaths panting onto each other, but in no time, all their clothes were stripped away from their body.

Joshua swiftly moved his mouth to her neck, kissing the side of her face as it made its way down there. Lower and lower he went, to her collarbone, where from the touch made Marisa let out a moan and arch her back into his body.

"K-King Joshua..." She moaned. She didn't know what she said that, but when you're caught up in the heat of the moment, whatever is on your mind slips out.

She felt his lips curl into a smirk against her skin.

"Remember what I said about formalities? Forget it. I like it when you call me that." He said seductively and then continued with kissing her body.

Kinky. But she could see he was enjoying this, so was she.

She felt every heat emitting for his body onto hers, and he hands roamed about his back. His hands held firmly onto her thighs as he pushed her legs apart. He began to thrust himself into her, Marisa let a moan, louder than before. Being in his arms felt right, it felt like he could protect her from everything in the world. Although his arms were scrawny compared to Gerik's, she felt safe and relaxed. Like they were her barrier from all the evils.

Again, he thrusted and continued doing so in a slow rhythmic movement. Marisa couldn't contain herself from panting and letting out moans and screams.

"F-faster." She breathed, and Joshua obeyed.

Every thrust was pleasurable as she let out screams. She dug her fingernails into his back. Everything about it was blissful and thrilling.

Finally they were done and Joshua rolled off of her, both were sweating and panting.

"That was... Good." Marisa breathed.

Joshua turned his head to smile at her. He shifted his body so it was close to her's, and placed his hand on top of her belly underneath the covers.

He began to draw on her belly with his slender fingers. Every touch sent tingles through out her body.

She felt his hand made its way over top the scar she had received last week. By him.

Joshua quickly retracted his fingers off her body and cleared his throat.

"Can I ask where you got that scar on your chest?" He asked softly.

No one had ever asked her that before. But then again, no one ever saw it.

"My father. While we were training." She said. She traced the valley of the long scar across her body with her fingers.

Joshua didn't say anything but lay his head onto the same pillow as her, his face just inches away from her. She could feel his eyes staring at her.

She continued on with her story. "I was young and we were sparring. I made a mistake." She paused to sigh.

Marisa remembered the day so vividly, the home they used to live in, shielded by one palm tree for the desert's sun. Her father and her trained in the intense heat all day, much like their other days. The training was vigorous, yet exhausting, and the sun's heat finally took it's toll on her as she made that one slip.

She was told to stay in bed for a month for it to heal properly, but being the determined child she was, she frequently squirmed and ran about. Her father expected her to treat her wounds as an adult. Her mistake wasn't getting slashed by her father, it was not thinking like an adult, being patience and being reckless. And now that scar would be forever there to mock her.

"I had to lie in bed for a month to let it heal. But I couldn't do that. What I learned from that was to be patient and to not be so reckless."

"And I see you've matured a lot from that." Joshua commented softly. She could feel his hot breath slither down her neck as he spoke.

"Your father... Where he is?" Joshua asked.

"Dead."

"Oh... I'm sorry."

"Don't be. You did nothing." Marisa said. "He was a great swordsman. The greatest in Jehanna. My goal is to become a better fighter than he was, to defeat as many men as he did." And she felt she had a long way to go.

"Marisa." Joshua said softly.

She turned her head to face his, their noses nearly touching. "Yes?"

"I think that's a lovely goal." He whispered as he leaned in to kiss her.

* * *

**A/N: **oh my goodness, I had so much difficulties with this chapter. Stuff happens, I overcome them, I do a little victory dance. No worries.

The story, she is almost ending! I have one big plot, so stay tuned! Thank you for reading and reviewing, I hope you've enjoyed this.


	18. Chapter 18

**Disclaimer: I don't own Fire emblem.**

Enjoy!

**Chapter 18**

* * *

At last it was the day. The day he and Marisa were to wed. He waited anxiously for the day he would call Marisa his wife, the love of his life. Many have complained it was much to early to wed, but Joshua disagreed.

After they had returned home from Innes and Eirika's wedding only a week ago, Joshua was "inspired" to propose. He did it in what he thought was the most romantic way possible; candles lit all over the garden, bouquets of flowers laid everywhere, an orchestra to play music, and him dressed up in tuxedo, with his hair groomed back.

_"Marisa... Will you marry me?" Joshua asked as he took out the silver ring with an engraving that read "My treasure, My love, My crimson flash."_

_Marisa let out a soft gasp as she stared at the ring then at Joshua._

_"Yes..." She said. "Only if you can beat me in a duel."_

_Of course, Joshua should've known. _

_He let out a soft chuckle. "Haven't I beaten you more than enough before?"_

_"One more. You win, I'll be your bride. I win... Well, you'll just have to wait." She said.  
_

_She knew him all too well. _

_"Okay, looks like I'll have to give it my all." Joshua said as he unsheathed this sword. _

_"I will too." Marisa responded as she took her sword out as well. _

_"You guys might wanna take a step back." Joshua warned to the 3 person orchestra. They cleared the garden and stood at the entrance. _

_Almost like lightning, the two charged at each other, their swords clanged against one another. _

_This was the fight of his life; he had never wanted to win so badly in his life. It wasn't the adrenaline that was fueling him to win, it was love. Though, Marisa had an upper advantage. Because of his idea of being romantic, his tight tuxedo was not faring well in his movement, thus restricting him from moving too much. _

_Marisa defeated him, her blade was to his throat when she asked, "C'mon Joshua. How badly do you want me?" With a smirk on her face._

_She was teasing him and he loved that. _

_He knocked the sword out of her hand with a wave from his arm and pulled her in._

_"Very badly." He whispered into her face then he leaned in and kissed her. _

_He thought a kiss would be enough to persuade her to let his defeat slip, but that wasn't the case. Again they fought, and the second round he was successful._

_Joshua suspected it to be too easy. _

_"I think you blew that one on purpose." Joshua said. _

_"Maybe." Marisa responded. _

_"Hm, now that isn't fair for me." Joshua pouted. Most of his wins from gambling were because of cheating, but he felt in this one particular gamble, he should win fair and square because this would be the biggest gamble he would ever make in his life. _

_"Again." Joshua said, readying his sword. "And this time, do try."_

_Marisa scoffed, a part of her wanted to be his bride, but another part said he would have to win her heart fairly. _

_"Alright." Marisa said. _

_Again they battled. _

_It didn't frustrate Joshua once when he lost again and again. He just kept trying and trying.  
_

_All night they sparred until the sun gave rise. Joshua's sword glistened in the rising sun against Marisa's slender neck. A smile on his face and her's.  
_

_She was finally his.  
_

Joshua nervously tugged at his dark tuxedo as he waited at the front of the throne room, where they were holding the wedding. Beside him was Moulder, to act as the priest for their wedding. Behind him were Joshua's best men. It was a difficult decision to choose only 3 best men out of his many friends, but he decided to choose Ephraim, Cormag and Saleh. Gerik would've been his first choice, but Gerik decided to act as Marisa's father and give her away. Innes was his second choice, but Joshua knew putting Innes and Cormag together would possibly start a war.

Many people began to arrive into the room and take seat to the many chairs lined in rows.

Joshua glanced at the many familiar faces as they strolled in.

Colm, in a dark blue suit with his very pregnant wife, Neimi sat at the back.

Young Ross and his father looked quite sharp in their tuxes as the took a seat next to the two beautiful sisters, Vanessa and Syrene. Forde and Kyle sat next to them. At the front was the Renais twins with their new spouses, and Tana, who Joshua had noticed was exchanging looks of love between her and Cormag.

Joshua was glad the two had worked things out at Innes' and Eirika's wedding, although Innes didn't seem to please.

"Hey, you gotta calm down." Ephraim nudged at Joshua from behind.

He spun around to face his 3 best men.

"Sorry. I'm really nervous." Joshua admitted.

The three smiled at him as Cormag placed a hand on his shoulder to comfort him.

The very same orchestra that played at Joshua's proposal began to play their instrument. The bride was about to enter.

Everyone began to turn their heads to the entrance to watch the flower girls stroll in. But instead, a very frantic girl ran in, it was one of Joshua's maid.

"She's gone!" The maid screamed."Marisa's gone!" She shouted once more.

"What do you mean she's gone?" Someone shouted.

Everyone turned to each other to murmur.

"W-what?" Joshua gasped. He felt his legs tremble underneath him, but he managed to run up to the frantic looking maid, his three best men followed behind him.

"She's gone? What do you mean?" Worse case scenario would be Marisa got cold feel and fled the castle.

"She disappeared! Her sword was on the ground and her bedroom window was open!" The maid cried out. "Gerik speculates she was taken by force."

"Oh my god..." Joshua said. He felt that the world was crumbling down on him.

Who would take Marisa?

* * *

**A/N: **DUN DUN DUN. who dunnit? Answer's pretty obvious, but do continue reading!


	19. Chapter 19

**Random A/N: **Ahh, well, another warning that this chapter contains some mature contents such as goriness, profanity and minor adult situations. Are you SURE you can handle it? Also, one more chapter after this and the story is la finish!

**Disclaimer: I don't own Fire Emblem.**

Enjoy!**  
**

**Chapter 19**

* * *

Marisa groaned as she regained consciousness, her head throbbed as she moved. Her vision was blurred as she tried to adjust to her surroundings. She was bend over something, and there was hand around her waist. Something held her legs together. It was rope, wrapped tightly from her ankles to her knees. Same with her arms, which were tied behind her back. She struggled to move, but it was no use. The roped used to bind her only burned from friction against her skin. Her mouth was dry when she tried to shout, but there was something in her mouth. It was a piece of cloth, tied around her head and scuffed into her mouth.

She was tied up and gagged.

Her eyes finally adjusted and from how she was positioned, she was looking at the ground. The brown of the desert sand passed her by quickly. Where was she? And was she... Flying?

"Finally up, eh?" Said a voice. The very same voice she had heard before. The very same voice she thought she never thought to hear again.

Duncan.

Marisa managed to turn her head to face him.

Duncan grinned down at her. He looked relatively the same, except his stubbles had grown out slightly.

Marisa saw that she was slouched over on her belly over his legs, and that she was still wearing her white wedding dress. The dress she chose wasn't as puffy and long like L'Arachel's and Eirika's, it was a simple dress, like her nightgown, except fancier and longer. And of course, less revealing.

Marisa looked around to see to make sense what was happening. From the view of scales, she saw they were on wyvern.

Marisa took a second to reminisce what had happened before.

_She was getting ready in her bedroom with Joshua's maids fussing over her dress, hair and makeup. Marisa, in what she thought was polite manner, told them to get out so she could get ready herself._

_Just as they left, Ewan entered the room. He looked charming in his black tux and his hair slicked back.  
_

_"Hey Marisa!" He chirped. "Woooow." He stared at her in awe. "You look... Pretty."_

_Marisa smiled at him. "Thanks. Why are you here?"_

_"Oh, just wanted to see how you were doing." He said as he rocked back and forth from his heel to his toes, with his arms held behind his back.  
_

_Marisa remembered back to what Tethys told her not too long ago, about letting Ewan 'down' gently. Marisa thought this was ridiculous, Ewan was only a child, he didn't know what love was, but she had noticed he had been not acting his cheerful usual self since that day..._

_"Ewan. You're not... Mad, are you?" Marisa asked. _

_"Mad? W-why would I be mad?" Ewan stuttered. _

_"...Because Joshua and I are together?" Marisa responded hesitantly. _

_"Oh!" Ewan exclaimed as if he didn't know. "No, no. If you love him then it's all good! I mean, you're happy right? So I'm happy!"_

_Marisa cocked her head to the side. She knew that when Ewan spoke more than usual, he was lying._

_"... And I see how much you guys love each other, and who am I-"_

_"Ewan." Marisa said, the he continued to ramble on.  
_

_"... As long as you're happy, and he is, then it's all-"_

_"Ewan!" Marisa leaned in and grabbed the young mage by his shoulders. It seemed to have shut him up._

_Marisa sighed.  
_

_"You're going to find love one day. Someone your own age. I know you will. You're a good kid." Marisa shot a smile at him. And she truly believed that.  
_

_"I... Okay." Ewan nodded at her, and Marisa returned a nod as she let go of him. _

_"But Marisa..." Ewan began. "If I see Joshua do anything remotely suspicious behind your back, I'll fry him to death with Elfire!" He said with a stern look. _

_Marisa laughed at the image of Joshua getting beaten by a 10 year old kid. She couldn't help but place her hand on top of his head and tousled with his slicked back hair. _

_"Hey!" Ewan laughed as he inched away from her hand._

_There was a knock at the door and Gerik came in, all fancy looking in his dark red tuxedo._

_"Is my 'daughter' ready?" He grinned._

_Marisa rolled her eyes. "Almost." She said._

_It was weird having Gerik act as her father for many reasons; one being he was only older than her by 6 years, and second, because of her feelings for him in the past. But in a way, he was like a father to her. When he was her boss he always looked out for her._

_"So, uh, I already gave Joshua the fatherly talk." Gerik said._

_"What do you mean?" _

_"That if he ever hurt you I will happily beat him to a bloody pulp." He said as he shot a wink at her. Marisa only glared at him. Gerik was taking the father role too far. _

_"Oh! And I just told Marisa that I'd burn him to death if he did anything suspicious behind her back!" Ewan chirped._

_"Excellent." Gerik smirked. "Well, we'll get outta your hair. See ya in a bit." The two sauntered out of the room._

_Marisa took one last look in the mirror before she headed to the door.__ She was just about to head out the door when she sensed someone was in the room with her. Luckily, her sword laid on the couch just an arm's length away. Marisa quickly snatched the sword and spun around to face the intruder. _

_"Quick one, aren't ya?" Duncan said, his sword was pointed to her, it's sharp point poked in her in the chest. Marisa looked past him and saw that one of the window was open. She wondered how he got in silently?  
_

_She then glanced at his pointed blade than at her sheathed sword._

_"Nuh uh uh." Duncan said playfully as he watched her eyes dart back and forth from his blade to her's. "You don't want to do that... Especially if you want to live to see your wedding day." He smiled deviously. _

_There was nothing she could do, if she drew her sword out, Duncan would drive his sword into her. _

_So she dropped her sword. _

And that was the last of what she remembered.

"So sorry to hit you in the head again, darling." Duncan said. "But I remember you as being a fiery one." Marisa didn't bother to look up at him, she continued to stare down at the passing ground below them.

So many questions ran through her head.

_Why is he here? Why did he take me? What's his motive? Are Joshua and the others looking for me...?  
_

Marisa could feel a hand held tightly around her waist, possibly Duncan holding onto her to prevent her from slipping off the wyvern and falling to her death.

"You're probably wondering why I took you." Duncan said.

She was. But she did nothing and waited for him to speak.

"Ah... I'm still wondering myself." Duncan said.

Marisa furrowed her eyebrows in confusion.

_What does he mean...?_

"It's been a long day, how 'bout we go to my hiding place and then we can chit chat, hm?"

Again, Marisa didn't respond to him.

They rode in silent for, to what Maria felt like eternity. Marisa was uncomfortable, the sun's heat was getting to her as beads of sweat dripped down her back, and her legs and arms were cramping up from being held in the same position for so long.

She felt her little white heels slipping off from her feet as it dangled in the sky.

Then Marisa thought of something.

She could leave a trail for Joshua and the others to follow. The only things she could leave were her shoes. But she wasn't sure if Duncan would notice if she threw her shoes away.

She tried it anyway.

Her left shoe slipped off and Marisa watched it fall into the sands.

Duncan didn't say anything and Marisa let out a sigh of relief.

She would have to wait a while before letting her other shoe fall, but where she was headed, and how long it would take, she didn't know.

* * *

"Come on you guys!" Joshua shouted to the men trailing behind him.

"Joshua... You're going too fast." Whined Artur. He and Moulder both held a torch staff that lit their way through the desert's darkness.

Right after the news of Marisa's disappearance was spread, Joshua immediately formed groups of soldiers to search for her. Many of his old war comrades were happy to help in the search. Joshua brought along Gerik, Ephraim, Artur and Moulder, while other small groups of people dispersed elsewhere to look in the desert. Many guests from the wedding stayed behind, along with a few guards and Colm and Neimi, since she was pregnant and Colm had to look over his wife. As much as Colm insisted to join the search party, Neimi reasoned with him. Though, Joshua was a tad bit disappointed the thief was not able to go; with his keen sight in the darkness, he would have been much help.

Joshua eagerly ran ahead to where the torch's light met the darkness, which was a couple of meters ahead of the group.

"He's right, Joshua. Some of us are not used to trekking in the desert's sand." Ephraim said.

Joshua let out a annoyed groan as the group caught up to him. A tired expression wore on their faces.

_Are they seriously tired already? _True, they have been out in the desert before the sun had set, but the woman he loved was out there somewhere! Someone could be doing cruel and vicious things to her, and he has to get to her before it's too late.

"Do you guys want her to die out there?" Joshua asked angrily.

Their tired expression soon grew to a pained and confused look.

"Joshua... Of course not." Ephraim said.

"We're just not used to traveling in the desert." Artur added in.

"I... Feel your frustration, man." Gerik said in a soft tone. "I mean... I let her go. If only I had stayed in the room longer..." Gerik looked down shamefully.

Joshua could feel his anger subside as he watched his friend down himself in guilt. He let out a heavy sigh. If he had to blame anyone, it would've been himself.

"It wasn't your fault. You couldn't have done anything to prevent this." Joshua said.

"What? Yes, I-"

"Come on, stop putting the blame on yourself and let's go find my bride." Joshua smiled weakly at them, and they returned with a smile back.

"We'll try to keep up with your pace!" Artur chimed in.

"No need. I'll slow down for you guys."

"Nonsense! We have to find her!" Moulder said boldly as he marched on, Artur and Ephraim followed behind him.

"Hey." Gerik placed a hand on Joshua's shoulders. "We're gonna find her."

Joshua nodded.

He hoped Gerik was right.

"Hey, what's this?" Joshua heard Ephraim say.

Joshua and Gerik jogged up to him.

In Ephraim hands was a white heel with a little bow on top.

"It's..." Joshua gasped. He quickly took the shoe out of his hands and stared at it.

No doubt it was one of Marisa's heel. He hope nothing terrible had happened to her.

* * *

"Here we are..." Duncan sang as he lifted Marisa onto his shoulders. She immediately woke up from being lifted so abruptly. She hung upside down, her hair swaying side to side as Duncan walked. Marisa couldn't see anything in the pitch black night, but saw a faint glow coming from an outline of a door. She guessed it was a house and there were some loud crashing of objects.

When they finally got to the house, Duncan kicked open the door and in the large room revealed 7 gnarly looking bandits.

They stopped what they were doing, and lustfully looked at Marisa. They watched as Duncan harshly threw her onto the wooden ground.

Marisa winced from the impact of falling onto the wooden ground.

"Who's the gal, boss?" Asked a chubby bald bandit with a grin on his face.

"She's with me. If anyone of you step even a meter near her, I will be happy enough to end your lives early." Duncan said as he glared at the bandits.

The seven bandits' lustful expression turned into fear as they backed away.

Marisa's head was still pounding from earlier, she tried to look around the room to see where she was at, but as her eyes darted from side to side, her vision got dizzy.

"Here." Duncan threw a sack of coins to one of the bandit. "Use it to buy supplies for tomorrow. Don't spend to much though." The bandits nodded at him and went out the door Duncan and Marisa came in.

Marisa held her head still and was able to see properly. She was in a large empty windowless wooden room, except for a desk at the corner. On top of it were several glasses of empty, or partially empty beer. And a couple of broken glasses with spilled beer were on the ground.

It was Duncan's hiding place. Along with several other bandits'.

Duncan knelled in towards Marisa, his face inches away from her's.

"Now what am I to do with you?" He asked himself softly.

* * *

Despite being tied up, and having her limbs become numb every now and then, Marisa was exhausted. She tried her very best to stay awake. She didn't want to have her guard down in fear that Duncan or the other bandits might do something to her.

Duncan had disappeared outside only moments before and the bandits hadn't returned yet.

Marisa took the time to attempt to escape.

She wiggled her arms and legs to free herself, but no luck. The ropes were tied to greatly. But that didn't stop her.

She squirmed about, grunting into the cloth in her mouth, which was drenched from her saliva. She didn't care she was getting burned from the ropes, she wanted to get out.

Marisa fell to the ground from her squirming.

She sighed in defeat.

_I hope Joshua finds me..._

She was about to close her eyes when she remembered something. She quickly lifted up her feet to see if her shoe was still intact.

It was gone.

Had it slipped off when she slept on the wyvern?

With nothing to do, Marisa lifted her knees to her chest and laid silently on the ground.

* * *

Marisa felt something touching her.

It was a pair of hands around her neck, pulling away the piece of cloth tied around her head.

Had Joshua came to her rescue?

She quickly opened her eyes and was face to face with an unfamiliar figure.

He had dark brown hair, his face covered with scars, and a lustful grin on his face.

Marisa was about to ask what he was doing, but before she could let a breath out, he quickly leaned in and kissed her. She tried to move away from the man, but his hands held her head in place. The rest of her body fidgeted like a fish on dry land.

Her screams were muffled against his lips, but the parting of her lips were only an invitation for the man's tongue to enter.

His tongue roughly rolled against her's.

She felt like throwing up.

Marisa could only do the one thing she could think of.

She shut her eyes as she brought her teeth down onto the man's tongue. She felt the squirting of his blood splash into her mouth.

The man screamed in agony as he pulled away from her. Half of his tongue laid in Marisa's mouth. She hastily spat the limb out, but still tasted the iron of his blood.

It was a sickening taste, and she couldn't help but throw up.

After she did, she opened her eyes; the tip of the man's tongue laid in blood, her saliva and her stomach's bile.

"Oh..." Marisa groaned softly, then began to spit any remaining of blood and puke from her mouth.

The man shouted something at her, which sounded a lot like "You bitch" and Marisa looked up at the man, blood spewed from his mouth as he held his fist up. She knew she was about to get hit.

She closed her eyes, readying herself from the impact, but instead she heard a soft groan and opened her eyes.

A blade stuck out of his chest as his eyes stared in surprise at the blade. He fell over, revealing Duncan to be the blade's wielder behind him.

He shot a smile at her, the very same delicate one he gave back at the castle.

Behind him were the rest of the bandits, shocked expressions on their faces.

Duncan whipped around to face the bandits, flicking his blade in the process which sent splatter of the man's blood onto the wall and ground.

"I told you dunder heads not to get anywhere near her. You see now what will be the consequence?" He snarled. The bandits only quivered in fear.

"Now, is the ship ready?" He shouted. Marisa jumped from the loudness of his voice.

"A-almost..." Said one of the bandits.

"Well, go get it ready then!" Duncan shouted. "We leave when morning comes."

All the bandits quickly ran to the door, shaking in fear.

"You three." Duncan pointed the last three bandits. "You, clean this mess up. You two, come with me." Duncan hauled Marisa over his shoulder. Her stomach still felt a little queasy from throwing up the man's dismembered tongue.

He carried Marisa into a small room, which Marisa hadn't noticed before. There was a small bed, a small desk with a lit candle on it, a wooden chair and a window with curtains drawn over it.

Duncan threw Marisa onto the bed. "Tie her arms and legs to the stands." Duncan ordered. And the two bandits obeyed.

Marisa didn't fight back, she was too tired, also it felt good that sore limbs were free from the binding.

They tied her spread out onto the bed, in a star formation. Once she was tied, Marisa pulled on the ropes to see how tightly they had tied her. It was pretty tight, she could only move them maybe an inch around.

"Now get out." Barked Duncan. The two left while Duncan pulled the chair out to the left side of the bed and sat in it. Marisa turned her head to the other side, not wanting to look at him. She could see from the corner of her eyes that he was wiping his blade with handkerchief or some sort, staining it with the blood of the bandit he had killed.

He let out a soft chuckle as he wiped his blade. "Wanna know something?" He asked.

Marisa didn't respond, she knew he would tell her either way.

"I let that guy go after you. I wanted to see how you would react to that. Y'know, so maybe I can have a little fun." He lifted his head to grin at her, but she continued to look away. "But now I see. He was just a little test runner."

"You're sick." Marisa said, her voice was raspy.

"That I am." Duncan said cooly.

"Why... Why did you take me?" Marisa asked, her voice barely a whisper.

"Why? Hm, but let me tell you first how I got here. I bet you and that guy who calls himself King are dying to know. It's actually quite a story, but you're gonna have to look at me when I tell it."

She had no choice, she was curious of how he got escaped from the castle, how he managed to hide from everyone and what he had planned. She slowly turned her head to face him, a glare wore on her face as she looked at him.

Duncan shot a smile. "That-a-girl." He threw the bloodied handkerchief to the ground and stabbed the sword onto the wooden floor.

"Well, where to start. Hm, ah yes." He pulled out something from his pocket, it was a small object held between his index finger and thumb.

It was a bobby pin. The very same she used to escape when she was held in the cell.

"I found this little life saver on the ground of the cell. Now where have I seen this before? Oh yes. You." He grinned at her.

Marisa bit her lip in shame.

_It's my fault..._

"Hey, hey now. For that, I may be sparing your life." He placed the bobby pin on the bed. "So anyways, I managed to steal a soldier's uniform and sneak out of the castle. Those guys... Haha, you should tell Joshua to replace his guards, that is, if you get outta here alive."

"I thought you were sparing me?" Marisa asked, her tone was calm. She didn't want to give him the satisfaction of her fear.

"I said _may._" He shot a menacing look at Marisa that made her shudder.

"So, I walked into some sleazy tavern when I overheard those dunder heads out there planning to steal a ship off the coast of Jehanna. I immediately jumped in on their plan, took control of their little group and their headquarters. It was my only way outta this god forsaken land."

"You're going overseas?" Marisa asked.

"Naturally. A wanted criminal like me would only flee to another continent. I hear that place called Elibe is nice..."

Marisa didn't say anything as he muttered to himself.

"Argh!" Duncan scratched his head furiously. Marisa shot him an intrusive look. "Y'know, I never planned for this happened. It was all that psychopath bitch's plan." His tone was now harsher and filled with anger.

"Marisol?" Marisa asked.

"Yes. You sleep with the lady one time and she suddenly follows you everywhere. I'm glad that sage guy fried her up."

Marisa didn't encounter Marisol all too much, but from their first meeting, she seemed fine. She was a bitch, Marisa could agree with, but she didn't come across as a psychopath of any sort. Marisa felt Duncan was trying to win some sympathy from her, but that wasn't going to happen anytime soon.

"You still worked with her." Marisa said.

Duncan stared at Marisa with an icy look. "She and I shared the same views; we weren't getting paid enough for what we did. But my views weren't as... Intense as her's. I only tagged along to see if her plan would actually work. Hell, it almost did. 'Till you and that wyvern guy showed up."

Marisa stayed silent.

"Well, anyways, continuing on with my story." His tone was calm now. He placed his feet on the bed, beside Marisa as he tipped his chair backwards, his hands on the back of his head.

"Y'know how busy weddings get. Everyone's minds is on the wedding, they don't care about anything else... I took yours and Joshua's wedding the opportunity to steal a few g's for my adventure overseas." Duncan took out a gold coin from his pocket and began to fondle with it between his fingers.

"Took over 300,000." He smirked.

"So why did you take me?" Marisa demanded.

"I accidentally flew on the wyvern to your window... In the midst of you changing into your gown." He smirked lustfully at her.

"You... Bastard." Marisa snarled. Just as she already hated the guy, she found more reasons to despise him even more.

"I'll tell ya, I liked what I saw. And I suppose what better way of getting back at Joshua for imprisoning me than taking his lovely bride? By the way, you marrying him is a bit surprising."

Marisa could feel her blood boiling in anger, and her fists were clenched tightly. But she wanted to learn more of his story, so she had to push her anger aside for now. "Why's that?"

"I saw what he did to you." Duncan smiled mischievously at her.

"What do you mean?"

Duncan took his feet off the bed and leaned in to her face, Marisa immediately turned her face away from him. "I saw him stab you." He breathed against her neck.

"Th-that's because he was berserked." Although his breath was warm, it sent shivers throughout her body.

"What's that saying? Oh, that love conquers all? Why couldn't he restrain himself? I guess he doesn't love you as much as you think he does." Duncan shrugged.

"Shut up." Marisa said as calmly as she could.

Duncan snickered at her. "A gal like you is better off with me."

"A criminal? I don't think so." Marisa countered.

Duncan raised an eyebrow. "Quite sharp-tongued, are you?" He leaned in once again. "I'll offer you something. I'll spare you life if you come with me. I sure could someone like you on my voyage."

"You got those bandits."

"Meh, I'm planning on killin' them off as soon as we set sail. Their IQ combined is of a kid. But c'mon... You and I will make quite a team."

"I'd rather be dead."

"Hm. It'd be a terrible waste to kill you off." Duncan stood up, and he began to unbuckled his belt.

"W-what are you doing?" Marisa asked, fear was dawning over her. She knew exactly what he was doing.

"I'm taking advantage of what little time we have left together before I kill you off." He grinned evilly at her.

He took off his pants and was in his trousers when he sat on top of Marisa.

"N-no. Don't." Whimpered Marisa as she pulled on the ropes and began to squirm violently underneath him, but her struggle only seemed to please him.

She had never been more afraid in her life.

"Are you begging?" Duncan said with glee. "Great. I love it when they beg." He said slyly. "But first..." He reached over to pull the piece of cloth that hung from her neck up to her mouth. "That's better." He said before he leaned in towards her neck.

Marisa felt her stomach feeling queasy again. His mouth was leaving a slime of a mess across her chest as his hard hands groped over her body.

_Sorry Joshua... _She thought as she shut eyes tightly._  
_

His hands slipped under her dress and grabbed onto her legs harshly and Marisa let out a muffled scream. _  
_

"Yes..." He whispered. "Scream for me."

"Boss!" Said a voice on the other side of the closed door. "There's people here!"

Duncan sat up and let out a roar of frustration. "So? Kill 'em!" He shouted.

"It's... The King of Jehanna." The voice said.

"Oh, looks like your little hubby came to rescue you." Duncan said. He got up and buckled his pants up. "Looks like this it gonna have to wait. Let me take care of him." He said with a grin. With that, he took his sword out from the ground and rushed out the door.

Then silence.

Marisa was glad that ordeal was over and that Duncan wasn't able to do anything more to her, and as much as she should be happy that Joshua came, she wasn't sure if he could fight off Duncan.

Frantically, Marisa pulled on the ropes, and lucky for her, all her struggling she did before loosened one of the ropes tied to her arm.

Successfully, Marisa untied herself and stood in the room. She walked out to the larger room, her bare feet creaking against the wooden floor. She looked at the spot she was held before and saw that the bandit actually listened to Duncan and cleaned the mess up. The room was empty and eerily quiet.

Then she heard the clanging of weapons and cries of pain. The fight was going on outside.

Marisa knew it would be a risky to go into a fight weaponless, but that didn't matter, all she wanted do was see Joshua.

She opened the door and it was daybreak, specks of sunlight poking through the shrouded forest trees and grass. The smell of the ocean's salt filled Marisa's lungs.

It would've been a beautiful scenery if there wasn't a bloodshed going on before her eyes.

Off to the side was Gerik slashing away savagely at one of the bandit. Not too far away from him was Ephraim gracefully dodging a bandit's reckless swing of the axe.

Off to the other side was Artur and Moulder blinding the bandits with their light magic. All of them in their wedding attire.

And finally, there stood Joshua, fighting off one burly bandit.

Marisa let out a gasp of relief seeped out from her chest and a smile spread across her face.

"Joshua!" She shouted as she ran towards him, the thick grass underneath her prickled at her feet at every step.

"Marisa?" Joshua threw one jab into the bandit's chest with his sword, instantly killing him. "Marisa!" He shouted in response as he ran towards her.

Finally, they would be reunited.

As they ran to each other, Marisa saw a shadowy figure come up behind Joshua. It had just cross her mind that she had not seen Duncan on the battlefield. And in a split of a second, she saw the smile of her lover fade away as the blade poke through his left chest. Blood instantly came spewing out onto the blade, and then the ground, creating a black puddle. The blade retracted from the King's body, making Joshua fall to the ground.

"NO!" Screamed Marisa as she knelt to him, scrapping her knees against the grass. She caught him in his arms just as he fell. His were eyes barely open when it fell on her, and a small smile was spread on his face.

"Huh. So you got out, eh?" Duncan said as he grinned down on them.

Marisa wanted to get up and fight him. She wanted to see him die. She wanted to throw insults at him. But she was paralyzed, stunned from seeing the man she loved shed blood.

Luckily, Ephraim and Gerik rushed to them. They both screamed out Joshua's name, but went to swing their weapons at Duncan. They wanted to see if he was all right, but in the mean time they will have to avenge him, leaving Marisa to see if Joshua was well.

She looked down at her lover.

"Marisa..." He breathed. "I'm so glad I can see you... For one last time." His voice was raspy and hoarse.

"'One last time'? Don't be stupid!" She screamed as she softly patted his face. Tears were welling up in her eyes, which eventually fell onto Joshua's cheek.

"Are you crying?" His breaths were short. "I never told you... How beautiful you looked... When you cried." He let a harsh cough, spilling up blood.

Marisa let out a terrified gasp, she didn't know what to do. She looked down to see how severe his injury was. His blood had already stained a majority of his white collared shirt, as well as her wedding dress. A large pool of his blood was forming around them.

Artur and Moulder quickly rushed to their sides, wielding their staves about.

"We got him." Artur said soothingly. The two priests gently brushed her away. "You should stay back, Marisa." Moulder said.

Marisa looked to where the last remaining battle stood.

Ephraim and Gerik were swinging their weapons at Duncan, who was blocking them effortless. Even with two against one, a smirk laid on his face. Marisa wanted to wipe that smirk off his face.

Marisa quickly picked up the sword Joshua was using before. Before she ran off to join the battle, she shot one last glance at Joshua. His face was pale, and his eyes were still barely open.

_Joshua..._

Marisa ran up to the trio.

"Marisa!" Shouted Moulder, but she ignored him and continued to run._  
_

"Marisa? Stay back!" Gerik said, but Marisa ignored him and swung her sword at Duncan. He easily blocked it. Their sword clashed against each other and the sword trembled in Marisa's hand.

"Fuck you." She snarled through gritted teeth.

Duncan only smiled at her. "Did lover boy die?" He asked.

"No. I beat you once. I'll do it again."

"I was only going easy on you last time. This time you won't be so lucky." Duncan jumped back.

"This is my fight." Marisa said to Ephraim and Gerik.

"What? Don't be crazy." Ephraim said, but again, Marisa ignored the two and lurched at Duncan. Their swords clashed against each other, sounding off loud rings and dings. Marisa swung her sword rather forcely, for that each swing was fueled with hate and anger. She was relying more on power than speed.

The two went at it for some time, when finally, Marisa had backed Duncan up against a tree. In the split second he turned his head to look what he had backed into, she took the opportunity to slash to his neck. She could have easily decapitated him, but that would defeat the joy of watching him die a painful death.

His face paled as his eyes puffed out and he gurgled in the blood spilling out of his mouth. He reached up to the gash on his throat then fell forward.

Marisa didn't say anything, only breathed heavily as she glared down at his dead body.

_Take that, you sick bastard._

She quickly turned and ran to Joshua. Artur, Moulder, Ephraim and Gerik were crowded around him.

"Joshua." Marisa said as she knelt towards him and grabbed him in her arms. She looked up to Artur and Moulder, who were avoiding her gaze with a sad expression on their faces. "You..." Marisa started before she broke out into sobs.

They couldn't save him.

Marisa held Joshua closely to her chest as she cried.

"I...love you." She heard him say weakly.

"What?" She took one last look at his face before he closed his eyes.

"Joshua?" She shook him slightly. "Joshua..." She said again.

She couldn't pent up her anger and sadness no more.

"JOSHUA!" She screamed as his body fell limp in her arms.


	20. Chapter 20

**LAST A/N: **Oh my... The last chapter! :'( Well, let's not hesitate anymore, enjoy the last chapter of 'Gambling with your Life.'

**Disclaimer:** **I don't own Fire Emblem.**

**Chapter 20**

* * *

"No screw ups this time?" Gerik asked.

Marisa nodded her head.

"No evil ex-generals coming into your room and kidnapping you?" Gerik asked with a grin.

Marisa rolled her eyes and gently nudged him in the side. His response was a snicker.

"I'm here, aren't I?" Marisa said as she pulled on her new wedding dress.

Because she did not have time to go look for a new dress herself, Eirika, L'Arachel and Tana went out and got her the most fanciest, puffiest, and as much as Marisa hated to admit it, beautifulest wedding gown.

The dress was held snugly on her bare shoulders with two tiny straps, the left strap was decored with flowers designed out of the fabric. It covered her chest in a heart shape, giving an accentuated look to her breasts. The bottom half of the dress was very ballerina like; with 5 layers of fabric, the dress was poofed out. And because no one could see what footwear she wore underneath the layers of the dress, Marisa quickly made a switch to her usual brown boots. The constant heels she had to wear before made her feet sore.

She wore her hair down with curly streaks spread out along her hair, her cheeks were flushed with a warm red and lips painted in light pink.

She looked radiant, much like a Princess.

But Marisa knew that after this day, she would become the new queen of Jehanna.

_"Maybe you'll follow her footsteps and become Queen of Jehanna one day." _

Like a fortune teller, he had predicted this. Even then, did he have feelings for her? Had he planned this from the beginning? Marisa didn't mind if these questions went unanswered, because what Joshua had predicted came true and that was all that was needed to make her the happiest woman on Magvel.

* * *

Joshua stood steadily leaning against his cane at the front of the room. If his left side of the body didn't throb in pain every time he moved, he would be pacing the room back and forth quite hastily from impatience. Instead, he tapped his fingers nosily on the wooden cane.

"Hey grandpa, you wanna stop doing that?" Innes teased from his seat in the front row. Many people who sat near him, including Eirika, Tana, and L'Arachel giggled at his comment.

Instead of countering back the insult, Joshua smiled then sighed.

His recovery from Duncan's attack was something of a miracle. A lucky miracle. Artur and Moulder were sure that they could do nothing more anything for him as he laid in his blood.

He remembered specifically a very bright light and a voice telling him to go into it. It felt very much like a dream as his body floated towards the light. But it couldn't have been a dream, last he remembered was being held in Marisa's arms... But why? And why was she crying? Just as he was inches away from the blinding light, a part of him told him:

_"Nuh uh. No way am I dying before I get married to the woman I love."_

And like resurfacing from water, reality gripped him and he found himself where he was before; in Marisa's arms.

Artur and Moulder were able to sustain his injury until they arrived back to the castle. He suffered a collapsed lung and 3 broken ribs. A broken rib alone would've taken 3 weeks to recover, but Joshua couldn't wait any longer to be married. Everyone thought he was crazy for getting up so early from a deadly injury, but Marisa was able to reason with him to stay in bed for at least a week. Her being by his side every waking moment as he recovered was like a motivation for him to recover quickly.

_"Heal body, heal! Do you see what you're missing by lying in this god forbidden bed?_!_" _He would mentally scream to himself.

After recovering for a week, Joshua stood up for the first time, and he was excited. But his excitement fell short when a shearing pain reared up in his side every time he moved.

_Of course... _He suspected his his injuries wouldn't be fully healed. Luckily Gerik was able to bring him the wooden cane to walk with.

_"Funny... Didn't Marisa get injured in her side? She never used a cane." Gerik brought up with a grin on his face.  
_

_"What are you suggesting?" Joshua scowled. He knew very well where his friend was getting at. In his defense, his injury was far more worse than what Marisa had endured. And he was glad Marisa never had to experience the excruciating pain he did.  
_

_"Oh, nothing. But you look like an old grandpa with that thing."_

_"Why, you!" Joshua held the cane up to Gerik, hoping his swings will hit him. The scene made him look similar to an old man when trying to scold a young lad. A foolish mistake on his part. Everyone in the room who witnessed his 'old-man' action declared him from that day on, as 'grandpa'. Even Marisa got a few giggles out of that.  
_

But now that he was alive and standing at the front of the room, he had never felt better.

* * *

The shuffling and clothes and creaking of chairs were heard in the room as the guests stood up to greet the bride.

Down the red carpet, Marisa, arm in arm with Gerik, walked on.

Joshua could not help but have a smile spread across his face as he watched Marisa walk down the aisle. She was so... Beautiful.

And Marisa, could not help as well but have a soft smile on her face.

The two stared at each other as they closer.

"Whoa whoa, slow down there, Marisa." Gerik hushed to Marisa every time she went ahead of him.

"Sorry." She sighed as she slowed her pace down with Gerik's.

She was eager and impatience. And she could tell everyone in the room could see that.

Joshua simply smiled on at his bride-to-be's eagerness.

Alas, Marisa arrived at the front of the room. Gerik handed Marisa off to Joshua as the two friends winked at each other.

"Hi." Joshua said as he smiled down at her. Marisa smiled in response before they intertwined their fingers into each other.

Joshua held on to her hand tight, as if to say _"I will never let you go."_ He shifted his eyes to Marisa. In return, Marisa shifted her eyes to Joshua to meet his gaze.

"Ahem, shall we commence?" Moulder asked.

Joshua and Marisa nodded in sync to the priest.

"Dearly beloved, we are here gathered today..."

Marisa very badly wanted Moulder to skip to that part where he declares them as husband and wife. As Moulder rambled on with the wedding speech, she heard a tapping noise and looked over to Joshua.

She watched as his finger furiously tapped on the wooden cane he was using to support his weight onto it.

She knew he was growing just as impatient as she was.

Everything they've done had led up to this moment, much like a gamble that's led them to one victory to another:

Joshua approaching Marisa on the battlefield during the Sacred Stones War, Marisa losing to one of their spar and bet, living in the castle together, attending Ephraim's and L'Arcachel's wedding, seeing each other bare and naked, Marisa saving Joshua from Marisol and Duncan, confessing their love to each to other, and Joshua's near death experience...

_"Gambling was like life, in short little bursts. Life itself is just one big gamble! That's how I see things."_

Marisa never quite understood the man's philosophy on life before, up until now. _  
_

Everything they've done had been a gamble; if it had gone another way, they wouldn't be here for their wedding day.

Everything happened for a reason.

All their risk taking, and gambling... Has led them here.

_"Marisa..." Joshua woke Marisa up._

_"Huh, what?" Marisa jerked up in the wooden chair. "Joshua... You're okay." It was the first she heard him speak since the accident. She leaned in to give him a hug._

_"Ouch..." He whispered._

_"Sorry." Marisa quickly retreated back onto the chair. _

_"No, that's okay." His shot a weak smile. "I just wanted to wake you up in time for the sunrise. I know how much you enjoy them."_

_She peered out the window to watch the distanced orange ball of a sun rise from the horizon. Its orange glow slowly lit up the dark blue sky. _

_Joshua took Marisa's hand into his._

_"I'm gonna put in the effort to wake up every morning... To watch it with you."_

All to enjoy a moment of happiness together._  
_

"Do you, Joshua, take Marisa to be your lawfully wedded wife?"

Finally.

"I do... I absolutely friggin' do." Joshua grinned, showing off his white teeth as he glanced over at Marisa.

There were a few laughter heard in the audience.

Moulder cleared his throat in disapproval.

"And do you, Marisa, take Joshua to be your lawfully wedded husband?"

Marisa nodded her head. "I do." She could feel a huge smile spread across her face.

"Then by the power vested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride." Everyone started to applause, cheer and whistle.

They both turned to each other, smiles plastered on their faces.

"I love you Marisa." Joshua said, his voice was barely heard over the cheering of the audience.

"And I love you." She said.

The two began to lean in to embrace in a kiss. Marisa blushed at the thought of having several people watch their embrace. But Joshua dropped his cane to the ground and grabbed Marisa in his arms and tilted her backwards.

"W-What are you doing?" Exclaimed Marisa.

"I'm trying to be romantic." He grinned. "Ow..." He softly whimpered.

"You don't have to." Marisa said, clearly seeing the pain he was in.

"Nah, any pain is worth it if I get to be with you." And with that, he leaned in to brush his lips against Marisa's.

The applause and cheering rose up to an uproar.

As they kissed, they both knew what will become of them.

The moment they met, they gambled and risked all they got to be here.

Their moments spent together have been nothing but a big gamble.

And just as they did before, they both knew that by being together, they will continue to gamble with their lives.

Because after all, isn't life all just one big gamble?

**End.**

* * *

**(May 2, 2011: done editing!) ****A/N:**

To those just reading this, I've gone back to re-edit my story; fixing some grammar and punctuation mistakes, adding a bit detail, the such. Although I noticed some characters were a bit OOC (finally learned what that means). Sorry about that, I don't really intend to go back to change it because... I'm lazy? Haha, maybe in the future. But hopefully my editing has made this better.

Ah, my first fanfic... It's been nearly 10 months since I've completed this and I cant help but look back and be quite proud of this :'D

If you're anything like me and _love_ Joshua/Marisa pairing, check out some of my other fics!

Well, it's been fun I'd like to thank you to all of the readers and reviewers! You've really encouraged me, and now that I'm done editing this, read to your heart's content! 


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